The bell rang right as Kazuki and the others were about to enter the room.

  “Tardy on the first day?!” said Kazuki, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  Sivle glared at Shiki, “Damn it! If you weren’t blocking the doorway, we would’ve arrived on time.”

  Instead of retorting, Shiki just looked at Sivle in fear.

  “What? What’s the matter!?” He looked behind him. “Is the something behind me-”

  The teacher snagged Sivle’s collar and gave him a furious look. “Let me tell you this right now. Bickering between late students outside of my class is something I will not tolerate. Do it again and I’ll make sure your actions won’t go unpunished.” He let go of him and walked back to the class. “Go take a seat, anywhere is fine.”

  The four of them staggered into the room, shocked at what had just happened, and chose to sit in the back corner of the room. Everyone stared at them as they walked toward their seats. Kazuki and Brian sighed and looked at each other. How did we get roped into this?

  Kazuki started to look around the room and noticed some people he already knew. Just like his first period, Shiraiyuki was here as well as her other noble friend, Ichiro. They were talking in the front of the room. Another interesting student was the girl who won Kazuki’s race. He noticed her hair since it was black with white streaks in it, however, he only saw the back of her head since she was facing toward the front of the classroom. Also, instead of the frilly dress she was wearing during the exam, she had on the required school outfit, a black skirt with a white button-down shirt under a black uniform. Damn. Just thinking of training with these guys is getting me way too excited. He put his hand over his mouth to hide the grin on his face.

  The teacher sat at his desk in the front of the room. “Good morning everyone, my name is Eito and I will be your ability training teacher for this school year. I hope we can all get along together.” He glanced at the four boys in the back of the room. “Like all of the other classes, we won’t actually be doing any training today. This is the first day I’m meeting you, after all.”

  There were groans from all around the room. “Seriously?” Shiki whispered to Kazuki, “I was really looking forward to fighting people.”

  Eito started talking again, “That’s what I’m supposed to say at least. However, I have other plans for you all.” He led all of the students outside and they entered a large building shaped like a dome, with a dirt floor. “This is where ability training occurs. There are several areas like this around our campus and everything here is made to be as ability resistant as possible. All abilities come from the same genetic fibers, so by making something resilient to that, we have the potential to neutralize almost every power. That material is what these walls are made of so that students can train without any serious damage to the structure.”

  It’s just like the bandit tents, Kazuki thought.

  “Instead of learning about your abilities in a boring way, I’d like to see how you apply them in a real-time situation.” he continued. “Everyone will be divided into teams of four and the last team standing wins. Obviously, this is training, so don’t attempt to severely hurt someone. I’ll take notes of your abilities and we can figure out where to go from there.” He pointed to a box near the front entrance of the room, “Everyone will be drawing lots to see who their teammates will be. This is another part of the test where I can study how you interact with unfamiliar people. And don’t even try to use magic to choose what number you get.” Everyone got in a line behind the box to draw their lots. “There will only be four teams as well, considering we have sixteen people in this class. He started pointing to different places in the room. “Team one will go here, two here, and so on.”

  It was finally Kazuki’s turn at the drawing box. He put his hand in and took a slip of paper, it had the number four on it. He looked at the area of the room where the fours were supposed to gather and saw his other three teammates. There was Shiraiyuki, Brian, and Sivle. He noticed Shiki was put with Fujio, Ichiro, and the girl who won his event.

  Shiraiyuki turned and noticed Kazuki. She gave him a hard glare. “Oh? It looks like we’re in the same group.”

  Kazuki acted as if she wasn’t there. “Looks like we got in the same group, Sivle, Brian. Let’s not be bested by Shiki’s team.”

  Sivle smirked at his statement, “Why would we lose to a guy like him? As far as I’m concerned, we’re at least a hundred times better.”

  Shiraiyuki grabbed Kazuki’s shirt. “Hey, stop pretending I’m not here!”

  Kazuki sighed, “Fine, then why don’t we introduce ourselves. The guy with the slicked hair is Sivle and the guy who looks like he just woke up is Brian.” He grinned, “And I’m Kazuki, the guy who beat you in the race.”

  She scowled, “You just played dirty! Ichiro was really hurt after you hit him!”

  Kazuki retorted, “I was playing dirty? Your ‘friend’ almost killed me!”

  “Uh, guys,” Brian noted, “I don’t think we should be fighting before an event where we need to work together.”

  Their teacher raised his hand, signifying the battle was about to begin. “Ready,” his hand dropped, “Fight!”

  Chaos ensued as the students began to fight.

  “Alright guys, we need to stay together. I’d like to get a quick rundown on your abili-“ said Brian. But before he finished his sentence, Kazuki and Shiraiyuki sprinted off to fight the other students.

  “Well, so much for teamwork, not that I wanted to work with other people anyway,” commented Sivle as he also ran into the fray.

  “W-Wait!” cried Brian, “You know I can’t fight by myself!” He chased after Sivle.

  Kazuki rushed into the middle of the battle to find someone to fight. He looked around and noticed a hawk flying over the arena. How did that get in here? Kazuki wondered. But just as he finished thinking, the bird suddenly dove towards him, talons outstretched. Kazuki dives out of the way, narrowly avoiding being cut. He rolled and sprung back up, looking around to see where the bird had gone. Instead he faced a plain looking boy with black hair and a brown t-shirt.

  “You aren’t bad, but I guess that’s to be expected from a school as prestigious as this one,” he said, before growing in size, hair sprouting out of his body until it was that of a blackbears. He charged at Kazuki, swiping at him with his claws, but his size made him too slow to land any hits. Even so, he was still attacking fast enough to keep Kazuki from forming a significant counterattack.

  This continued until Kazuki finally landed a solid blow on the bear’s nose, blowing him backwards. He turned back into a kid before standing and looking at Kazuki in interest, his nose dripping blood.

  “You’re able to do well, considering you have such a basic ability. Looks like it’s time for plan B.” He shrunk in size, sprouting wings and a stinger.

  A bee? Damn it. What’s he planning? Suddenly, what was once a single bee had turned into a whole swarm. Kazuki stumbled back in shock. Does he really have an ability like that? He readied himself, although he wasn’t sure how he would deal with an entire swarm of bees, when he was suddenly hit in the back. He fell to the ground for a moment, but hastily got back up. He looked into the sky, but the swarm had disappeared, replaced with the kid in the brown t-shirt. Kazuki looked behind him to see another student with straight black hair and bright yellow eyes.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “Nice job, I didn’t think that idea would work, Hajime” said the shapeshifter to the other student.

  “Well, I guess this means I’m a genius,” Hajime said jokingly, as he went for another attack on Kazuki.

  But this time, Kazuki was ready, and went to grab the students hand, only to grasp nothing but air. The rest of his body disappeared, and once again, Kazuki was hit from behind. He sprung up and turned around to see Kento with a smirk on his face.

  “See, Kento? I told you this would be easy,” said Hajime going for another attack, but instead of focusing on him, Kazuki turned and struck the other student, who had once again been approaching from behind. He struck him with an uppercut, sending him flying into the air. He crashed into the floor and stumbled back up, but he was clearly in no condition to fight for the time being.

  “Wha, how did you figure it out?!” Kento gasped in shock. He morphed into a black bear, but Kazuki could see through his movements much easier after having already fought him once, as well as him being injured from the previous strike, and punched him in the gut, sending him flying backwards. He got up and gave the other student an apologetic glance, before morphing into a hawk and flying away.

  “I guess that’s it for him,” Kazuki muttered to himself, before turning back toward Hajime. “Well I already knew something was up with that bee swarm, but after my hand passed through you it was pretty easy to figure out you were using some type of light magic to create illusions. After that, all I had to do was figure out where you were coming from, which wasn’t too hard with your predictable movement pattern.” He finished with a grin.

  “Yeah, that’s great and all, but if you think I’m finished, then you’ve got another thing coming,” the student said, who had now recovered enough to stand up straight. His body split into four exact copies of himself.

  “『Quadruple Illusion』” All four boys ran at Kazuki at once. Crap, how am I supposed to know which one is real? Kazuki thought. He tried to roundhouse kick all of them at once, but his leg passed through the first three copies, and was caught by the real student, who body checked him, sending him into the dirt. Wait a minute….

  “What’s the matter? I thought I was predictable.” The kid taunted, as he sauntered over to Kazuki's body on the floor. Kazuki sprung up and flung dirt onto the student and his copies, the dirt passed through the copies and hit the real version square in the face.

  “What the?!” The kid said in shock, before being punched in the stomach, shooting him into the ground.

  That was close, I need to make sure I don’t take too much damage. I wonder how Shiki is doing? Kazuki thought.

  O O O

  “Woo hoo!” Shiki bounded over one of the students and shot out an orb of light onto them. “『Light Bomb』” The ball detonated on impact. “This is too easy.”

  Sivle sprinted up to Shiki and took a swing at his head.

  “Oh, so you wanna fight, huh?” said Shiki, dodging and backing away. “『Secret Weapon: Light Staff』” A staff shimmering in white and gold light appeared in Shiki’s backhand. He spun the staff over his head and slammed it into the ground beside him.

  “That’s a neat weapon, but I prefer this,” said Sivle as he held up the guitar, gripping it by the neck.

  “Ahaha! What do you think you’re gonna do with a guitar? Play me something?” he kept laughing.

  “Tch,” he gave Shiki an irritated look, “I’ll show you what I’m made of.”

  “Right back at cha’,” said Shiki, twirling his staff. He sunk into a fighting stance. He rushed at Sivle and swung the staff at him.

  Sivle ducked and sweeped Shiki’s legs, leaving him open for the overhead strike with the guitar.

  Shiki hit the ground and rolled before the guitar could hit him. “Ha! What do you think you’re doing? Now your precious instrument is bro-” Shiki glanced at Sivle and saw how the guitar was in pristine condition, no scratches, no nothing on it. “Wait, what’s going on? How is that thing perfectly fine!”

  Sivle chuckled, “I guess it’s time to show you just how strong I am.” He pulled his guitar out and adjusted it so he could play. He strummed the guitar, and sparks erupted from the top. Purple energy shot out, before forming into the shape of a wolf. “Still think you can beat me?” Sivle asked cockily.

  “Bring it,” Shiki replied, as he charged at the violet beast.

  O O O

  Kazuki was running back to find his team. Damn, I got too excited and left everyone behind. I should've stayed with Sivle and the others. As he was thinking of the best thing to do at this point in time, a massive beam of dark energy surged toward him. He noticed just in time and jumped to the side. The wave exploded when it hit the wall of the building, sending gusts out wind blowing relentlessly throughout the arena. His feet skidded to a halt and he put his hand on the side of his face. The magic had cut his cheek, causing blood to dribble down the side. That was way too close. The only person I know who can use dark magic is…. “What the hell is your problem, Shiraiyu-” But it wasn’t her. The one who attacked him was the girl who won his race. He grinned, “I didn’t think I’d be going up against you so soon.”

  She didn’t say anything. Instead, the girl just put her right hand up, preparing to fire another beam.

  Eito was watching from the sidelines, She’s attacking another person. So far everyone she’s gone up against hasn’t put up anything resembling a fair fight. I wonder how this boy will do, against the strongest student in the school. He crossed his arms, Though, I don’t expect much considering all I’ve seen is minimal martial arts and some minor strength enhancements.

  Kazuki braced himself for another assault. I can’t get hit anymore, I’ve already taken a beating from the shapeshifter and light guy. He licked the blood on his cheek. After all, I’d say I only have around seventy-five percent of my health left. I can’t afford to be hit by someone this strong, or else it’ll be like my fight with Shruke all over again. He clenched his fists together. And I won’t let go of this chance I’ve been given.

  As expected, the girl shot out another monstrously powerful wave of dark magic, except unlike the previous time, Kazuki was prepared.

  He dodged to the side and attempted to rush the girl and fight her in hand-to-hand combat, but she raised her other hand and another massive blast was sent toward him. Without thinking, he jumped as high as he could to avoid the attack, successfully outmaneuvering both beams. However, what he didn’t expect was what happened next.

  The girl aimed her pointer and middle-finger behind Kazuki, summoning two magic portals that absorbed both dark magic beams.

  “What the he-” Kazuki couldn’t even finish his sentence when he understood what was going on. Two more portals showed up in front of him while he was airborne, and both energy waves simultaneously shot out from them. Damn it, it’s a wormhole!

  Shiki stopped fighting the magic animals Sivle was unleashing and saw the fight taking place between Kazuki and the girl. In fact, everyone had stopped fighting to witness the absurd battle taking place between the two. To spectators, it seemed like a weakling was being targeted by an especially strong magician, for seemingly no reason. Sivle noticed the portals, Wormholes?! But that can only mean, she’s a wielder of chaos magic! This is especially bad for Kazuki, no one here except me knows how weak he really is!

  Time seemed to slow down for Kazuki. Oh no, what do I do? What can I do? I can’t dodge in mid-air, and it’s not like I can just hit the magic! The beam grew closer. Wait maybe I can project myself to the side using wind pressure from my punches! The only problem is, I don’t think I have the strength to move myself that quickly. He thought of a solution, If that’s the case, he adjusted his body preparing for a strike, the beams were mere meters away from him. I’ll use my legs! He swung his right foot parallel to the beams using all of his strength, sending his body flying to the side like a ragdoll due to his center of gravity not being stabilized like it is on the ground. He slammed into the wall across from him right as the magic shot past where his body would’ve been.

  The girl’s eyes widened with shock, as no one had ever avoided one of her most formidable assaults. However, she wasn’t the only baffled one, practically everyone in the arena was dumbfounded at what had just occurred.

  Kazuki grumbled as he sat up. “Ugh, what just happened?” He turned to look back where the beams were going to hit him, and to his utter disbelief, there was a massive hole in the wall that was “supposed to” negate all magic. “What’s going on?”