A boy waits impaitiently on a bench, with several others their age filling the hallway. He was in the middle of checking their belongings, as they flatten the wrinkles of their undershirt and the baggy sleeves of their long vest. When suddenly they feel a external presence come into their mind.

Almas your turn will be at half an hour, please prepare yourself until then.

Almas's long pointed ears perk up upon hearing the telepathic message, He first makes sure their focus is ready, eyeing the charcoal black wand on his holster. Almas giggles at the mere sight of the brand Kawago etched on the handle. The excitement almost overtaking him like a child gaining possession of their first sword. He makes a few gestures with it, until a small ember forms on the tip. He was about to let out a scream, until he realized there's other students in this hallway. Realizing this he reholsters the wand, calming themselves for the time being.

Alright enough lollygagging, think that was ten minutes wasted, I shall save appreciation for this new focus for later, for now though I need more information on my opponents. Almas thinks as his gaze widens like a owls.

They start to skim through the students, first looking at the end of the hall investigating the ones that stayed after finishing their duels, of the ones that stayed were several elves, with a few humans and gigants.

As expected, though there seems to be more humans and gigants winning here than my last school, competition might be tougher, or maybe I'm the best of my kind here. Almas thinking this with a grin on their face.

Almas then continues their investigation of the other students focusing mainly on the people that just won their duels and were waiting for their subsequent matches to start.

When Almas takes a closer look, he saw the usual focuses of staves and wands not much to note for those except for the lack of brand, but then there were many more unorthodox focuses than expected, ranging from instruments, wooden swords, crossbows, to even the occasional tattoo.

This is strange compared to my old school, then again Recmear does accept more variety of casters than my classes at home. As Almas was pondering this thought a familiar external presence comes into his mind.

Almas, please proceed to the dueling grounds, you have five minutes before we count you as absent. Upon hearing this message in their thoughts, Almas leaps from their bench, and goes toward the gates of the dueling grounds.

As Almas opens the gates, they see the dueling grounds, it was a large theatre surrounded by empty padded seats on the sides, and the middle having a large stone stage with runes chiseled on the edges. In the middle there were 2 figures, an adult man with messy dark blue hair, thick glasses, and clear signs of fatigue. He was currently making gestures to prepare for a ritual. The other figure was a large statured boy with the usual school uniform, with the exception that their baggy sleeves and the ends of their dress pants were tattered revealing a small portion of their tattoos, He was currently standing with both their hands in a claw, and their legs going back and fourth in a restless motion, ready to pounce at any moment.

After skimming the area, Almas goes toward the stone stage. The adult man finished his ritual erecting a barrier of force around the stage, taking a quick gasp of breath before performing another series of gestures to form a weaker barrier around the both of us.

So my first opponent is a Gigant? They're a mess from the looks of things, though I'm not sure how they broke their uniform this early, hasn't it only been one or two days since they got it? He ponders this thought before eyeing the adult man. And him, he's tired this early in the day? then again performing the ritual and barrier spell with this many duels would take a mental toll on anyone. His mind was self absorbed with the 2 before he was interrupted by the adult man.

"Alright Almas this is Gater, Gater this is Almas, names Daius I'm your judge, any questions so far?" He says in a brisk pace, before any of us can respond they continue. "Great! so you two got barriers from me they crack you go, one that wins, fights another, one that loses gets their ranking and goes home, any lethal force I stop you, then expell you immediately, we all good?" Daius says with a faster pace, he takes a small breath, before sitting down on the floor.

Gater was the first to respond with a crack of their knuckles. "Oh ya lets get it on!" Gater's voice echoes throughout the barrier, his stance starts to move at a faster pace.

Almas followed with a small nod, a smile on their face, his hand ready to unholster their wand at a moments notice, but still keeping posture.

Daius slouching on the floor, with a half hearted snap of their fingers starts the duel.

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Almas unholsters their wand, Gater follows suit with a loud roar, their tattoos start glowing, small gusts of wind start to form around him.

Too slow! Almas flicks their wrists, a soft ember forms on the tip of their wand, unleashing two flaming bolts of energy directed towards Gaters torso and legs.

Gater scoffs at the two flaming bolts bending their back to dodge the first one, then performing a flip for the second one, landing on his hands.

"Checkmate" Almas sends another flaming bolt toward their chest, but before it makes contact, Gater lets themselves fall, and the firebolt suddenly changes trajectory upward, hitting the ceiling with a soft simmer.

"Hah lame!" Gater roars again their casting complete, torrents of wind surround them as their tattoos glow brighter.

Almas's heart began to race, until he had a epiphany.

Wait, in that short exchange they didn't cast anything weaker, no projectiles, or anything to cover that up, is that their only spell? if so all I have to do is outlast them!

The tip of Almas's wand starts to smoke, extinguishing the ember, a bubble of force forms in its place.

Gater and Almas, share a stand still for a few seconds.

Until Gater makes the first move, lowering their body to the ground before going in a full sprint, redirecting his winds to heighten his charge.

An attack that obvious you're mad! Almas starts to grin, assured in his victory.

Seems much too powerful for a thinner dome to handle, need the thicker shield. Almas grasps his wand focusing all their movements in front of them, the bubble of force on the tip of the wand expands into a thick transparent wall that fully covers the front of their body.

Gater unconcerned with the wall picks up the pace of their charge.

Hah, they're going to crash right into it at this rate, do they think they can penetrate my perfect shield? Almas thinks to themselves, forming embers on their wand as a precaution.

Gater charges, but before impacting the shield, he makes a strong kick toward the ground, while at the same time redirecting their wind sideways, moving them in a crescent shape around the shield.

Almas in their confusion, fires 2 flaming bolts, but Gater closed the distance too soon for them to be accurate, they flutter harmlessly on the stage.

Gater then outstretches their arm, delivering the full momentum toward Almas's face.

Almas on the floor and dazed by the impact, tries to shuffle away from Gater as fast as he could.

Lacking to concentration to keep it up the thick transparent wall dissapates into nothing. Their weak barrier is still up cracks are starting to show. But before he can think of another strategy. Gater was approaching them, the barrier on his arm damaged.

Almas fires a bolt in desperation, it finally lands their mark, but only makes a dent on Gaters barrier, he was going to fire a second one, but Gater swats Almas's arm downward, the firebolt hits the floor with a small simmer.

In a trained motion, Gater proceeds to put Almas on their shoulder, Almas tries to break free, but Gater tightens their grasp.

Gater then slams them toward the ground. it makes a loud thud echoing throughout the theathre, but Almas's barrier wasn't broken again. He was setting up for a second slam. Almas was panicked and tried to break free by hitting the cracked barrier on his arm with their hands to no avail.

Please, please just break! I can't return home like this! This thought ran across Almas's mind on repeat.

Gater was finished setting up, delivering Almas's body onto the floor once again. This time their barrier finally shatters, disspearing into nothing.

Gater stands up, and lets out a hearty yell. His spell ending a second later, the glow of the tattoos fading, and the wind around them slowly calming down.

"That was a great match almost had me there! One more of those and I would have lost. Didn't know hitting you like that would also damage mine." Gater laughs, ourstretching his arm to help Almas up, but they were too dazed to respond.

Gater gives a shrug, before masking the awkward scene with a small laugh, Gater asks Daius if he's excused, Daius nods, Gater then proceeds towards the doors leading to the hallway.

Daius lets out a sigh before tapping Almas's cheek.

"Hey buddy, you lost, go home, I got about 10 others I need to perform this stupid ritual for."

I didn't just lose did I? Almas was still dazed trying to gather their thoughts.

Daius lets out another sigh, before putting a lollipop in his mouth.

"Hey Almas! I'll give you to the count of ten, scram! The next 2 people are getting in here, you'll get your ranking in a week or two!"

Almas limply gets up, making sure to check his belongings. Without saying another word, they walk out of the school building with only thoughts of their future here accompanying them.