It was a warm, sunny day, and Lia was arriving at the small, floating landmass where the Tower of Fire was, orbiting the main flying island. The day of the competition came, and she was to arrive on time. The event would take place, starting at 11 am, going until all participants showcased their fires, and the judges came to a conclusion naming the sole winner. She was notified a few days ago that it would take place on the training field, right behind the Tower, and when she arrived, the site was already fully prepared.
It was to be a much plainer and less flashy competition compared to the others as the stands were fewer and smaller while the judges, elevated podium was placed inside the arena. As it was not about battles and martial prowess but showcasing their fire, it was less striking and exciting to watch. Lia knew that but was still surprised at how few spectators came, and the stands remained mostly empty.
"Or am I too early?"
"Not really." A voice answered her question that escaped her mouth.
"Hm?" She turned towards the source, watching a young man wearing the 4th-year student's uniform approach her. He was relatively tall, his skin black as the night, contrasted with his white teeth, which he was flashing at Lia with a smile. "You must be our third judge, yes? I am Noga; I will be the one rating the competitor's proficiency with their spells, deciding how long they could maintain it before running out of mana." He explained, stretching his hand out that Lia shook vigorously, looking up into his black, friendly eyes.
"Hi! I am Lia! Does that mean everyone is here?"
"Just us, the judges." Noga answered, "Coco went to bring coffee; ah, here she is!" He nodded towards the Tower, letting his huge afro shake like a jelly atop of his head.
"Yo!" A short, plump girl was rushing back, also wearing the uniform of 4th-year students, with three ice-cold cans of coffee, giving one to Lia with a grin after arriving. Her hand was white as porcelain, while her wavy, pinkish-colored hair was billowing behind her like a cape. "I'm Coco; nice to meet you!" She panted, fixing her uniform that was sticking to her body. She was barely taller than Lia, but her hips were at least twice the size of hers. "I heard about you a lot. Nice job with Olivia! I hated that bitch!" She clapped onto Lia's hands, shaking them as her twinkling, pink-colored eyes looked into Lia's.
"Coco, language." Noga nudged her, opening his can and taking a sip.
“Ahaha… y-you’re welcome…” Lia answered, looking a bit shy, but in reality, she was not that proud of what happened, knowing her fate. "And thanks!" She added, raising the can of coffee.
"Don't mention it!" Coco winked at her, "We are going to have a looooong day ahead of us! So it is best to have some extra fuel! Anyway, if you feel unsure, here!" She knocked her bracelet against Lia's, sharing her information and adding Lia to her friend list. "Send me a message, and we can talk it out! We are judges anyway! We need to debate on what we are judging!"
"Thanks!" Lia smiled, happy to see they were so friendly and open from the get-go. Somehow she expected that they would be against her, thanks to Zorgan. "Were you judges before?" She asked, curious as they started walking, heading to a bench nearby to relax before the event began.
"Yeah." They answered simultaneously. "Last year." Noga finished, but then Coco continued.
"With Olivia… and she was a bitch!" She groaned, puffing out white smoke from her nostrils, turning bright red, "She berated every participant and also us when she thought our judgment was off! Hah! I am glad you showed her what was what!"
"Coco…" Noga nudged her again, "Language!"
"But she was a bitch! Sleeping around with other women and all that!"
"And?" Noga rolled his eyes, knocking on the top of her head, "Stop it. It wasn't our business anyway!"
"It was because she was telling you off for being a dog of House Ro and me for being twice as wide as tall! Fucking bitch queen of a bitch kennel! Shaking her rotten vagina for the undead! I heard what her family was doing! Hmph! And she has the gall to tell others their 'faults!' She was a bully!"
"Coco…" Noga sighed, putting his giant hand on the top of her head, trying to placate her, "Relax! Steam is coming from your ears; you are losing control of your mana again!"
"Ugh…" She grumbled, trying to take deep breaths, calming herself while Lia was looking on with great interest.
"Are you two close?" She asked, and the two looked at each other before chuckling at the same time.
"No." They answered, "Just friends." Coco pointed at Noga, "He is from the territory under the rule of House Ro."
"Just a commoner who was born with a gift," Noga added hurriedly.
"He is being shy!" Coco giggled, "He has naturally different flames. He was still a kid when he managed to cast his unique flames!"
"Unique?" Lia asked, looking Noga up and down with a curious gaze, exclaiming when he flicked his wrist and greenish flames appeared around his fingers. "Are they like-" Lia asked, but Noga quickly shook his head, extinguishing it, and Lia could smell something funny in the air. "Stinky…"
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"Yep." Noga laughed, not taking it to heart. "My flames are poisonous. They cause blisters, rotting, and other nasty things if they come in contact with living beings. I don't know how it came to be… for me; it was always like this."
"I think his flames became like this because he expelled all that was rotten in him!" Coco joked, elbowing him, "Noga here is one of the kindest guys I know!"
"Not really…" He said, sounding shy. "Anyway… your fire is also special!" He continued, and Coco also summoned bright, neon-pink flames, burning with blinding intensity. More than that, it smelled the complete opposite of Noga's, releasing a sweet fragrance the moment it appeared.
"Unlike Noga, my flames are something that I developed. They are unique to me and have mind-altering effects!"
"Woah…" Lia gulped, awed by the two. "You two are so awesome!"
"Ehehe…" they laughed, looking at each other with happy grins. Both of them were to graduate with Honorary, but since meeting with Olivia, they were constantly battered down by her critiquing statements. At least until she was beaten so badly she left school before graduating. "What about you?"
"Me?" Lia asked, flashing a shy smile, only showing them her orange fires, "Nothing really…."
"Hey, I never saw someone be able to turn it into that shade of crimson!" Noga said, encouraging Lia as she was letting it burn in its usual way, turning deep red as she focused on it.
Nobody knew about her blue fire as any records of it were purged by Lauron, Lucian, and Somia herself. Those who knew about it swore secrecy, while anybody who did not was in no way to comment about it by now. Since her fight with Simbad and learning about the different types of flames, Lia quickly decided it was best to keep her blue fire hidden. It was powerful and instrumental for her, but she came to the decision it was best to use it when reaching victory really mattered. She defeated Olivia because she was taken by surprise… if she ever got into trouble, maybe facing an intelligent Undead… it was best to have a surprise up her sleeves to save her life.
"I thought you also had a special fire to beat that bitch." Coco added, scratching her chin.
"No. But!" Lia giggled, extinguishing her fire, and just a few seconds later, swirls of water were flowing around her fingers.
"Woah!" The two exclaimed, now their eyes falling on the double emblems on Lia's uniform.
Wielding fire and water? Switching between the two opposing elements so quickly? They only saw their homeroom teacher do something like that.
"You are something else!" They said, scanning Lia's mismatched eyes.
"It isn't a big deal…" She answered, lowering her head and looking shy but happy at the same time. "How many people signed up? Do you know?"
"Nope!" Coco answered, "We will get the list at the start but going by how it was previously, we expect to have a dozen or so competitors!"
"That isn't many." Lia looked at them with raised eyebrows, expecting a much higher number of participants.
"Mastering unique flames is not an easy task!" Noga explained with a small smile, "Even here! Most of them use fire seeds to start learning it."
"Yep! I started out like that too!" Coco nodded in agreement, "And that is not a cheap thing to do! I am from the territory under the House of Honu, and my family has multiple alchemists working with them! So I have the backing and the capital to pursue it. Normal, less wealthy students can forget that!"
"I heard that the school has fire seeds for sale… for CP," Lia asked them, feeling a bit puzzled.
"Yeah, but that is not enough." Coco continued, "A few seeds are nothing if you want to transform your flame permanently! It requires a lot of resources and constant study, exploration, and so on and so on! You would have to have great talent, many, many CP to exchange for seeds… so you have to be a genius amongst geniuses to pursue it! Not to mention, spend all your waking hours doing tasks to afford the seeds... when will you sleep? Or relax?"
"Those who are going to come to this competition are all people who are sure to graduate with Honorary. They will be the elites of the fire mages in the Academy. They all are going to have unique fires that they are going to demonstrate. They either developed one or had some fortuitous encounter to be blessed and transform their fires!" Noga nodded, agreeing with her words.
"I am glad I did not let my people sign up…." Lia murmured.
"Lucky." Noga nodded, watching Lia with a kind look, "I am sure there will be people who will come with no unique flames under their belt. There are always some, but none produce anything so outstanding with it that it would outshine the others."
"Eh…" Lia flinched, for a moment, thinking about if she could win the tournament if she displayed her freezing blue flames.
"Well… it happened once. Four years ago." Coco added with deep annoyance in her voice.
"Let me guess!" Lia said, raising her hands, "Olivia?"
"Yeah." They answered in the same, flat tone. "We were reminded of it every time. She loved to quote that she did it as a first-year student, so nobody should complain if she says harsh words about their performance..." Noga murmured, trying to not sound as if he was angry with the memory, without much success.
"Well, I won't be like that!" Lia clapped, beaming at them. "How does it work, by the way? Do we look at everyone and debate after? Or are we grading them on the spot?"
"Kinda both." Coco mused, licking her lips, "If someone is average, doesn't show any real unique traits, we tell him or her what we think, what was good, what was bad, and then tell him or her to leave. We try to be polite about it, make the competitor understand that what he or she came with is not enough against the others."
"The rest stay." Noga continued when Coco fell silent. "We then start debating and analyzing them. If we are unsure or can't decide, we recall some of them and ask them to demonstrate it again! After we come to a decision, we announce the winner. Simple!"
"Oh, okay! That sounds fun and much easier!" Lia laughed, releasing a relaxed sigh, "I thought this was going to be super hard, and you would be… well, not so friendly!"
"Eh, the Olivia effect." Coco grunted, rolling her eyes, "Her attitude poisoned the Tower's competition in the past four years. Well, this time, it will be different! It won't take days to announce a winner!"
"Days…?" Lia gulped, looking shocked.
"Yep." Noga clapped, "With Olivia and her pedantic views, sometimes we argued for days on until we simply gave up and let her decide who won. Although, all those winners were berated to the ground while she announced it…."
"This time," Coco grinned, looking super happy, "There won't be any arguments and all-nighters! Ahahaha!"
"Ugh… I hope so…" Lia added silently, making Noga chuckle, patting her shoulders encouragingly.