Kyrion hopped out of the ring and approached the boy whose wrist he snapped. “Let me fix that for you.”

“I don’t want you touching me! Get away!” The boy yelled.

Kyrion didn’t listen as he placed a palm above the injury aligning it perfectly before restoring the break.

“Huh? It doesn’t hurt anymore. What did you do?” The boy squinted in suspicion.

Kyrion had moved on to the others whom he hurt in the battle, checking them for any injuries.

“Why are you doing this?” Asked a kid whose head obtained a cut when he landed outside the ring.

“Because I imagine your healers are preoccupied with the injuries in the other stadiums.” With his job done, Kyrion waited for someone to retrieve him.”

After a while, the referee appeared behind him, seemingly untouched by the large attack he let out.

“You have some of our elders talking. They don’t know who to choose for the next round. You are at the end of rank four, so finding someone equally as capable and able to put up a challenge. So instead of one fight you will have to fight three people. One of the strongest in the class, and the other two should vary in strength..”

“Great, when do we start?” Kyrion hopped on his feet.

“In around an hour. With ten minute breaks in between.”

“Awesome time to go eat lunch and come back, right?” Kyrion smiled, heading towards the exit.

The man looked at him with a sullen face. “You can’t leave once you’ve gotten here, any food would need to have been brought beforehand.”

Kyrion imagined his teacher’s smug expression. He then turned and punched the mental image. His one good eye twitching.

“I have a biscuit leftover if it’s that bad.” The man seemed worried.

Kyrion held his stomach and felt it starting to roil. “That would do nothing more than make it mad. Can you make them arrive faster?”

The man shook his head. Drinking water made from his mana and eating the fruits he created himself. Didn’t do much for his appetite. Food had to mostly come from an outside source. If he grew a fruit tree here, he’d be able to eat though it would give diminishing returns.

“Wait… Do you have a cafeteria?”

“Yes but it’s restricted to teachers and students.”

“Listen, we both know I’ll be a student by the end of the day, so just let me into the cafeteria.”

“No. It’s not like I’m the headmaster or something. Rules are rules, you can’t just change them for convenience.”

“Those rules suck.” Kyrion pouted.

“Or. You can try one of my nutrition bars.” Said a voice Kyrion did not recognize.

“Is it food?” Kyrion asked, looking at the diminutive girl that stood a solid five-two.

“It doesn’t taste good but one of these contains enough nutrients to keep a grown man fed for a day.” She replied.

A memory scratched at the surface of his head. “How many can I have?”

“Kyrion. Are you sure you can handle those bars? I hear the last person to taste them found themselves with food poisoning.We don’t get many guin….taste testers.”

“Food is food.” Kyrion took one of the bars and consumed it. Most would say that the texture was dry and brittle. The crunch of eggshells would have turned quite a few away as he bit deeper and found an ooey-gooey center where dried egg mixed with something else could be felt. It was salty, sweet, bitter, tangy, and then spicy as he consumed it entirely. The boy felt as though he had consumed one of the Kyr specials.

The referee looked at him in disgust. “Are you ok?”

“I like these. The taste is negligible but this little bar has me around a quarter full. I can eat three more and I’ll be completely full. Thanks Thalia.” Kyrion stated before scratching his head in confusion.

Thalia raised an eyebrow.” Are you sure you got it right?”

“Got what right?”

“My name. Answer now, and I’ll give you the rest.” She produced a container with around fifty of the things.”

“Do they go bad? And I am one hundred percent sure your name is Thalia. I guess you just look like a Thalia. Is that so bad?”

“You guessed my name correctly I’m just surprised you’d remember me. I haven’t seen you since you were little.”

Kyrion had no idea what that girl was talking about. She did have the hair and the eyes. Don’t tell me. A connection was made in his mind before it burned out. Smoke rose from his head as sweat on his head boiled. He happily took the bars popping three more down his gullet, and put the rest in a safe place.

“Well thank you Ms. Thalia now I won’t have to fight on an empty stomach. Now the only problem I have left is waiting a whole hour.” Kyrion found a soft patch of grass which he slowly grew as he laid down.

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“Well Kyrion, I have some business to attend to. If you want to find me, head to the alchemy wing in the health building.” Thalia skipped away as Kyrion eyed the strange girl with suspicion.

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Kyrion napped on the grass outside the arena as the hour passed and his first opponent arrived. He awoke to the referee shaking him awake.

“Well Kyrion, this guy is in the top ten of new recruits and a talented spit user if you get past his eccentricities.” The man said.

“Ah, strong opponents right off the bat. Sounds fun.” Kyrion said sarcastically.

On the other side of the arena, a raven-haired boy sat with a cloak of inky darkness over his shoulders. Eyes as dark as midnight, and a hand covered his face.

“Darker than dark. Blacker than black. I am that which lurks in your nightmares and dwells in the hearts of man! I am the Dark Raven!” The boy stood up and struck a pose. Black feathers seemed to hover around him.

Kyrion really hoped this boy was strong because he wasn’t holding back after an entrance like that.

Kyrion entered a charging stance. His opponent didn’t have a weapon, so either they were some sort of Elementalist or a hand-to-hand fighter.

“Round one of the second challenge will now begin. Ready! Fight!” The referee commanded.

“I’m Kyrion,” Kyrion said as he entered a sprinting stance. Arms spread out as he was on all four legs, prepped to spring forward.

“I need not repeat myself, for you face the master of conspiracies.” Raven pointed at Kyrion using his right, middle, and ring fingers.

Blackbirds flew forward at high speed, their bodies almost amorphous from the movement.

Kyrion, like an idiot, charged straight into the attack as the birds struck hard. But didn’t slow down whatsoever.

“Stop! You shouldn’t run into these!” Raven’s composure broke as his opponent broke the pavement.

Four more birds flew at Kyrion.

This time, however, Kyrion rolled to the side, evading all four birds as the balls of his feet pushed him forward again.

Raven stood there shocked at the physicality his opponent displayed by evading something that moved faster than a crossbow bolt.

Within moments a palm strike landed on Raven’s chest, sending the boy flying into the barrier, which he bounced off and landed back on the stadium floor.

Kyrion stood there as his body began to leak mana where the birds had hit them. He had started to recognize this as a trait of shadow magic. It slowly caused mana to seep out from his core and other effects. The Gremlins caused lingering wounds. Edwin stole power while damaging the core. Kyrion did not want to find out what the birds did.

“That was too easy….” Kyrion mumbled as he started healing the damage done, which was when he noticed five more birds had managed to hit him in retaliation as he struck.

“Uggg…” Raven slowly got to his feet, now fully aware that he shouldn’t let himself get hit.

Kyion wondered why his opponent was letting him clear the damage. While Raven wondered why he was allowed to catch his breath and think. Had either known what was going on. Then magic and fist would be flying in an attempt to end the fight now before either could catch their breath.

But that didn’t happen. Instead, Kyrion charged forward again, testing the waters as he surrounded his form with wind mana as though using it as a shield. Something an untrained eye wouldn’t have noticed the signs.

A flurry of ten birds flew at Kyrion this time, draining Raven significantly.

Five of the blackbirds were torn by the wind in an instant, much to Raven’s surprise and Kyrion’s irritation. The other five poked more holes into him where mana would benign to drain from his body.

Every step exhausted him more than usual as Kyrion entered melee range with Raven. Focusing his remaining mana into his fist as he punched at the boy again.

Raven dodged the obvious blow, moving to the side, though not as well as he thought.

A loud crack echoed across the arena as the glancing blow sent Raven straight through the wards where healers had been waiting in preparation for the fight’s end.

Kyrion fell to a knee, exhausted as he worked on healing the wounds left by the blackbirds.

“That hurt more than I thought It would.” Unfortunately, Kyrion couldn’t heal the damage he’d taken on account of using too much mana on that punch.

“The challenger wins by knockout!” The announcer cheered.

A tall woman wrapped head to toe in white bandages approached the exhausted boy, lying on the stadium floor.

“I’m here to help. Don’t move.” The white wraps connected with Kyrion’s battered body and then turned black as the black mana was cleansed from his body.

Kyrion sighed in relief as he felt some of his energy return. “Ah, snack time.”

Kyrion pulled out some of the bars he obtained from that weird Thalia lady. Eating one after another and refilling his stamina as he began to rapidly take in mana.

“Urrer?!” Said the boy’s stomach.

“I just fed you. Be quiet!” Kyrion yelled at his stomach.

After half an hour of waiting, Kyrion realized he was tired of waiting. “Excuse me! Who am I supposed to fight next?”

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Tiffany wasn’t having a good day. After beating her twenty opponents, she was exhausted. It wasn’t that they were strong. It had more to do with her limited mana capacity and training. Still, she pulled off a victory despite all that. Yet they brought him out to be her opponent.

A boy was brought into a circular arena in a wheelchair and left alone. The boy, with great effort, rose to his feet as a greatsword appeared in his hands. Then, he entered a defensive stance and waited.

Tiffany summoned her rapier, aghast because she had to fight someone who seemed to have trouble standing. Nevertheless, she thought that ending the fight quickly would be a blessing for him. She then looked to the black glasses-wearing referee, who nodded.

“Ready? Begin!” The referee stated.

Tiffany was in front of the boy in seconds, opening the battler with a thrust to his chest. Which was a feint. Her real goal was to knock him down or take him out quickly.

Brion blocked the thrust with the broadside of his sword and used his strength to push her back a great distance. The boy did not pursue. Well, it was more apt to say he was unable to pursue.

Tiffany rose to her feet as she paced around her opponent. “Strong. I need to be careful.”

Brion observed his opponent carefully, never moving from his spot. Though he did seem to rotate slowly as she moved, not exposing his back.

Tiffany approached from the front with a dash.

Brion brought his sword down with the broadside in an attempt to knock her out.

Tiffany quickly stepped to the side, slashing upward, leaving behind a white line of light.

Brion swiped at the bright line that had limited his vision. Leaving him open.

Tiffany moved behind him and capitalized on his open back, landing a thrust that seemed to do little damage as it bounced off his flesh, not even leaving a mark.

Brion stabbed his blade into the arena, and a sword made from rock came out under Tiffany’s feet.

The girl backflipped out of range of the attack with surprise on her face.

Brion did not turn around to look at her as he took the sword out of earth.

Tiffany shot out a dart made of light, which Brion deflected using his sword as a shield from behind his back. The light lingered inside the blade after it struck.

Tiffany began circling the boy, firing dart after dart, which slowly but surely drained her mana.

Brion blocked a few more of the darts. However, the damage done to him had him lit up and glowing. Though his durability was extremely high, even he had limits.

“Ahh!” Brion yelled as the darts finished their assault.

Brion boy thrust his sword into the ground again. This time the earthen blades seemed to home in on Tiffany’s location when she tried to dodge, which led to one of them hitting. A strike that would have cut her leg off instead caused a bit of pain and exhaustion. Much to her confusion.

Gamodren had told her it had something to do with a ward around the stadiums to limit physical damage and prevent deaths. Though bones may still be broken if enough force is applied too quickly.

Luckily her leg wasn’t too hurt. She got to her feet and decided to charge at Brion again. This time she stayed close as she didn’t have the mana to waste on raged attacks.

Slashes and thrusts landed, doing minor damage that slowly began to add up.

Brion blocked what he could and left himself open to the assault as he the pommel oh his weapon into Tiffany’s stomach, knocking the wind out of her and forcing her to retreat.

Brion was huffing at the moment. He was visibly near his limit.

Tiffany was also tired. This fight would be hard, and now she was confident they didn’t send her this opponent because she was weak.

Brion’s greatsword shrunk to the size of a longsword which he held in one hand as a shield appeared in his right hand.

Tiffany charged again, and the two engaged in a series of exchanges. As both sword users began to grasp the other’s abilities, it was now clear that Tiffany was far behind her opponent.

Still, she didn’t give up. Tiffany thrust upwards towards Brion’s open chest.

Brion parried the strike with earth mana. Somehow shifting the shape of his shield in nearly an instant.

Tiffany rolled to the side as the sword came at her. Moving in for another strike that didn’t come.

A chop made by the shield came down on her neck with a loud smack, and Tiffany faded from consciousness. Her body was transported out of the arena.

Brion looked down and noticed a bruise over his heart. His consciousness faded soon after as the damage added up. Though this time it was Tiffany who lost, the fight was obviously close, as the number five of the new students fell to the ground in a heap.