Calling it an all out brawl wasn't even an accurate description for what happened next.

Immediately, capitalizing on the confusion of the other students, Yuka charged straight for Suijin. However she was quickly intercepted by Hayato, who caught her with a punch to the stomach. This knocked Yuka back and straight until other students, knocking them over like bowling pins. From behind him, he noticed Touka, who had made use of the distraction to appear behind Suijin, aiming to use the back of her blade to knock her out could. Suijin curved out of the way of the strike easily, before also avoid Akira's attempt to grab her from behind.

By this point, the rest of the students had snapped out of their shock, and jumped into battle. The corridor was fairly large, being about 20 feet wide with zero objects in the way. However it seemed considerably more crowded with the amount of students battling inside. The crushing feeling of the mana sealing prism had grown so large that it physically hurt to try and call up even a insignificant amount of magic. It became significantly harder to breathe as well, almost as if one of their lungs had collapsed. This lead to every fight being a hand to hand show down. In the cramped environment, the physically stronger had a clear advantage.

Jayden weaved out of the way of Luke's right hook, before countering with a punch directly to his side. Luke blocked the attack, and the force behind the blow pushed him backwards, causing him to slide straight into a punch a kick from Rebecca, that caught him right across the face. Luke reeled backwards clutching his face. "Same team!" However Emma ignored the comment, instead using Luke's bent over form to roll over on his back and begin attacking Jayden instead.

"Watch your left!" Luke, heeding Rebecca's warning, immediately pulled his head back and barely dodged an axe kick from Emma. In the same moment, Lucius and Raiden came flying over head, vicious grappling each other as the fought for control. The rolled along the floor, catching Jayden's leg, causing him to trip and fall over. "Shi-" Jayden's words were cut short however, as Luke capitalized on the moment to strike Jayden straight in the ribs.

At the end of the hallway, right by the stairs that lead to the basement floor, Alice and Hayato faced off against each other. Both of them had developed the same idea at the same exact time. When the opposing teams captain breaks through the chaos, they would have to be meet by me. On this low of a floor, Alice's bow had become a thread of light in her fingers. She dispelled it, not taking her eye's off of Hayato for a second.

"I'm not going to vanish and appear behind you the second you take your eyes off of me." He joked. However Alice didn't even bother to fake a smile.

"Your a genius, you know that?"

Hayato scratched the top of his head, looking down. He was trying to hide the small pink flush that had appeared on his cheeks. "Oh come on, you don't have to be s-" His next words never came, as Alice caught him off guard with a kick straight to the jaw. Hayato's entire body was lifted off of the ground as he was sent up and backwards from the force of the blow. He was sent crashing straight into the wall, causing a massive dent. immediately after his body impacted, his head followed, smacking against the wall. Hayato slid down the wall like a rain drop sliding down a window before being stopped by the floor. His vision was extremally blurry, and the only thing he was able to make out was Alice's blond hair and white skirt. "P-playing...dirty I see."

"I meant what I said. You are a genius. Just, not smarter than me."

However Hayato was already out cold, the force of his head snapping back against the metal wall incapacitating him completely. After she was done with that, she turned back to see both Akira and Suijin breaking through the crowd at the same time, dashing for the exit. She locked eyes with her group leaders and gave her a nod. Suddenly, Akira's eyes widened and she began to shout something, but it was too late.

"Oomph!" Alice was caught by a blow to the stomach that knocked the air out of her lungs. She looked down and noticed that it was Izumi, who had tackled her. She was so short that she didn't see it coming. Although Izumi wasn't very strong, her sudden attack caught Alice off guard, and bought Suijin just enough time to slip by her, and down the stairs into the basement floor. Although She had reached the basement floor first, she still turned around to face the staircase.

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A split second later Akira burst onto the floor. She slid to a stop, a mere few feet separating the two girls. Suijin was the first to speak.

"If you apologize now, I'll consider forgiving you."

Akira scoffed. "Like I said before. I'm not apologizing."

"And that's the problem. A lack of empathy."

A muscle in Akira's face twitched at the comment. "Once again. What are you trying to imply?"

"Read between the lines." Suijin retorted.

Another cynical laugh. "How about you come show me?" Akira cracked her knuckles.

"Gladly." Suijin charged at Akira.

***

As soon as the two girls dashed down the stair case, a majority of the fighting instantly ceased. Seeing as how the two captains had already made it to the final floor, where their team members couldn't follow, there was no point in continuing to battle. Multiple students leaned against the wall, or sprawled out on the floor, trying to catch their breath. That was only made harder by the mana sealing prisms that made it even more difficult to recover effectively. Everyone seemed to have got the memo; everyone except for Lucius and Raiden, who were still grappling and rolling and punching and cursing on the floor. Raiden aimed a punch that caught Raiden in the face, and Raiden retaliated with a punch straight to Lucius face. The two of them probably would have never stopped fighting if no one intervened. Alice walked over and grabbed Lucius by his hair, dragging him off of Raiden, and pushing him into a wall. "OWW!" She stood above him with a disappointed look in her eyes. that Instantly shut him up. On the other hand, Raiden tried to get up, but before he could, Touka had taken a seat on his chest, crossing her legs and yawning.

"Hey! get off me. Your he-" Touka placed the blade of her sword directly next to Raiden's throat, the light in the hallway causing the blade to shine.

"You should never call a beautiful young lady heavy. Where are you manners?"

"Beautiful young lady my ass-OWW! Please stop! Uncle! Uncle!"

"No vulgar language young man." She adjusted her glasses as she set her sword down.

Their classmates, looked on impressed as always at how well the two girls were able to solve the situation. Jayden snickered slightly, which earned him glares from both of the boys. "Aww. Look at the fierce and unruly Raiden~"

Raiden turned away, a frustrated expression on his face. "God I'm going to kill myself." He muttered under his breath. Touka's eyes opened slightly

"what was that?" She asked in a completely serene and calm voice.

"N-nothing!" Raiden replied in a frantic, slightly trembling voice.

Near the stair case, Alice and Izumi were talking.

"That was an unexpected move. You used what most would have seen as your biggest weakness, as your biggest strength." Alice praised Izumi's final move, which allowed Suijin to make it to the basement floor unobstructed."

Izumi laughed, burying her head deeper into her knees. "I guess, but it was more a desperate last push if anything."

Alice smiled down at her. "No matter if it was desperate or not, your actions gave Suijin a chance to win. That alone is commendable." Izumi's eyes brightened at Alice's continuous praise. A blush appeared on her cheeks and she once again buried her head in her knees. Alice smiled fondly at the sight.

"Tell me, Izumi, do you know why the situation escalated as far as it did?" Emma asked as she approached the two girls taking a seat by the wall. When she asked the question, the entire room silenced, as they all had been wondering the same thing. Prior to this situation, Suijin and Akira had never held any open animosity towards each other. They were never close, but they held respect for each other. It was completely out of character for one of them to go around insulting the other.

Izumi shook her head. "I don't really know. I understand that Suijin was trying to defend me, but it almost seemed as if she was going at Akira for something. I don't really understand it myself."

"Do you think it could be regarding the royal selection?" Jayden intervened.

Alice perked up at the mention of the royal selection. "What could yo-" Her words trailed off as she realized what Jayden was getting at. Jayden nodded as he saw the realization dawn over Alice.

"Both of them belong to two different families, who happen to be sponsoring two different candidates. Akira to the Takeda, and Suijin to the Sou."

"But, even then, why does that mean they have to be enemies? Why do they have to hate each other?" Izumi interjected, her voice growing shaky. It was a rather naïve question, however nobody seemed to blame her for asking it.

"Simply put," Touka said as she removed her glasses to clean them, "Politics are extremally complex and serious matter, especially when it comes to choosing the next head of the country. Even the closest of people can be split by their political views, because different candidates and mean completely different values and view for the future of the country. Not to mention the filial obligation and pressure from their family they must feel as well as." She put her glasses back on and looked Izumi directly in the eyes.

"No matter what they truly feel, they are more than likely destined to be rivals."