Ashern City - Reinhart Institute of War, 3rd of Brightforge, year 315 UC
There was no morning practice today. If there was, Bryan heard nothing about it. Instead, he went to get breakfast and decided to sit away from his team.
He did not sit by Alessia either, as he just wanted to be alone. Yesterday's incident still affected him a bit.
Not his fight with Farrah or the small conflict he had with Sabrina.
It was the fact that something seemed to be wrong with him, and he had no idea what it was. That bothered him.
Zoltan was not a help either. The little mouse just kept irritating him and did not seem to shut up. It was not until he woke up that Zoltan vanished and Bryan was able to get some peace to himself.
Zoltan did not tell him he would disappear, but Bryan chalked up the whole act to him, going back to what he was doing before. Whatever that may have been.
While he was glad that Zoltan was still around, the mouse bugged him more than usual. So he was glad that he was alone.
Being alone was not bad. He had time to think and question. Bryan spent most of his morning lazily eating breakfast while reviewing what happened yesterday.
He split this into two reviews. The first was what he analyzed from the students on his team and his group yesterday and any information his team provided during lunch.
Bryan came up with details on all the students and had a decent estimate of their strengths based on the three tests they took. While it lacked any explicit data on their combat style and spells, it was a start.
By the end of this week, he wanted to know who everyone hung out with, their roles, how they worked together, and any weaknesses that could be exploited.
The second review was done on himself. Why was he bleeding from his nose? Who did those voices belong to? What was he seeing? Were they memories or visions? What caused them? Finally, was he sick?
The first portion of his review was quick, taking him only ten minutes to complete. He had compiled data based on his observations over these past two days, and with what he learned from his teammates, it was easy to fill in the missing bits.
Every student had a threat level, with most of them being low-risk. This was his first assessment, mostly based on their test performance.
After today's combat match, he could update it to estimate everyone's strength better. He ended up marking Julius as medium-risk due to his family name and what he knew about the Reinhart family. Alessia is high-risk due to her lack of control and spell power.
If Julius were anything like the other members of his family, then that risk factor may have to be updated to reflect a higher threat level. Currently, however, Bryan feels Julius is not much of an opponent.
It drove him insane that he missed his duel with the boy, thanks to his incident. He refused to call it anything else because that is exactly what it was: an incident and nothing more.
The second portion of his review took longer. It dragged on until breakfast ended.
In his eyes, the review was… useless because it provided no concrete answers. As a result, only more questions emerged.
Why was he bleeding? Unknown. It seems to stem from a headache, but the direct cause is unknown. Prior headaches were not an issue and could easily be fixed by a night's rest.
So, what makes these headaches different? It's unknown. They seem to be triggered randomly or when I’m under stress. However, the academy has a low stress factor, so that can’t be the actual trigger, and they do not seem random. They seem to have started during conversations with Farrah.
Could Farrah be the cause of my headaches? Unknown.
And the questions just kept piling up from there. It was a giant rabbit hole of endless possibilities with no direct answer.
Going back to the medical ward was an option, but knowing that the Inquisition managed to slither their way into a newly established magic academy was… disturbing. Bryan figured he managed to escape their clutches, but that was far from the case.
He wanted to have as little contact with them as possible and coast through these three years. Ending up there would only complicate matters, and if something was truly wrong with him, who knew what the Inquisition would do?
Thus, he had to figure it out by himself.
Which was fine. He was used to figuring things out by himself. It was not anything new.
What was new was that he wasted his entire breakfast time doing nothing productive. He would have been in and out of the cafeteria within ten or fifteen minutes, but instead, he spent his entire time there doing a review.
He did not even have a chance to do some morning training because he woke up later than usual.
And now, he was standing in front of the duel arena in the main gym along with the other students. All the instructors were standing on the duel arena, and Silivia Grace was the first one to step forward after their discussion ended.
“As some of you have been briefed, this is our duel arena.”
Siliva stated as she spread her arms out, gesturing to the platform she was standing on.
“It is actually a combat simulation platform. High-end magitech created to bring realistic environments to students to prepare them for real-life combat situations better. From ruined cities to underground caverns. Every type of environment that this device can simulate may be somewhere you will eventually visit.”
She smiled softly before turning to look at the other instructors. With a nod of her head, the other three lept from the arena and started walking to each student, pulling out something and handing it to them.
“What you are receiving now is another magitech device that is to be paired with the duel arena. It is an arena sync that will monitor your vitals when you enter the duel arena. Any damage you take, from environmental to magical and physical, will be reflected on your body. While wearing this, you will be immune to fatal damage, but any and all pain you feel will be real. If you get your arm sliced off by a wind blade, you will feel it, and while your arm may still be there, you won’t be able to use it.”
Silivia raised her wrist to reveal the dull gray bracelet with two small crystals embedded in it. One crystal was glowing blue, while the other was inactive and lacked color.
“While on the duel arena, the arena sync bracelet or duel bracelet will turn blue. This means it is active and monitoring your vitals. When you take damage, the other crystal will turn red. When enough damage accumulates, the blue will fade, and only red will remain. If that happens, you cannot move, cast spells, or even talk. You’ll essentially be dead until the match has concluded.”
Siliva paused as she noticed a hand go up.
“Before I take any questions, let me finish explaining. These bracelets have been tested and approved. As long as no one with the firepower of our headmaster is attacking you, you will survive. Take note that each of your instructors is a highly skilled mage, each with devastating spells capable of crushing you in a single strike. Yet, they also can not break this device's protective shielding.”
“Meaning, you may all freely and with great encouragement kill one another on the duel arena. Do not hold back, as while you are being protected, we want everyone to have as real of an experience as possible. You cannot grow stronger or learn if your allies and classmates are holding back. Because if you go to the frontlines, the enemies won’t pull their punches.”
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Siliva twirled the ends of her long red hair, seeming to be in deep thought. It was amusing watching the instructor take a long pause, thinking about what she would say next.
“Oh, right. Your spells can damage the environment. Earth mages can also manipulate the terrain if they have that spell. Now, please save your questions for after a quick demonstration by our lovely instructors and the rules of the team matches for today.”
Siliva said as she leaped from the duel arena and touched the ground. She spun on her heels and watched Gloria and Alan enter the arena.
The duel arena changed as grass rose from the ground. Wind seemed to be present, brushing against Gloria’s hair and causing it to sway.
Gloria and Alan raised their arms, showing the active bracelets and the crystal turning blue.
“Are they seriously about to fight?”
Bryan heard someone ask, but he did not recognize the voice.
“This is going to be so cool!”
Someone commented.
He glanced through the crowd of students and noticed Julius. The boy was yawning and did not seem interested in the fight.
Julius did not say anything to Bryan during breakfast. Bryan assumed he would have wondered what had happened to the duel, but maybe Julius had found another opponent or was not that concerned about the duel in the first place.
“Who do you think will win?”
Another voice, this one belonged to a girl.
The bits of conversation continued.
“As you can see, both bracelets are active, so we are both being monitored by the system and protected.”
Gloria stated from her position on the duel arena.
“Alan will now demonstrate what will happen when one of you lands your spells.”
Gloria stood with her arms at her sides, making no move to defend herself as Alan shifted into a combat stance.
"Watch carefully."
Alan's voice carried across the arena.
The air around Alan began to distort, like heat waves rising from summer pavement. Gravity seemed to bend and concentrate around his outstretched hand, creating visible ripples between him and Gloria.
Bryan watched intently, analyzing the spell's formation. Whatever this technique was, it appeared to compress and manipulate gravitational forces into a focused point.
The attack launched without warning—a concentrated burst of gravitational force instantly crossed the distance to Gloria. It struck her left shoulder with enough force that several students gasped. Bryan briefly noticed her bracelet's second crystal flashing red. Her left arm went limp, hanging uselessly at her side.
"As you can see."
Gloria raised her right arm, gesturing to her now-immobile left.
"While no actual damage has occurred, the system registers the hit as having disabled my arm. I cannot move it or use it for casting until the match ends."
She turned back to Alan.
"Continue."
This time, Alan's next attack caught her squarely in the face. Gloria's body became rigid, and the crystals on her bracelet turned bright red while the blue faded entirely. She stood frozen, like a statue, unable to even blink.
"This."
Alan gestured to Gloria's immobilized form.
"Is what happens when you take lethal damage. The system has registered her as 'dead.' She cannot move, speak, or cast magic. This state will persist until the match officially ends."
As if on cue, the grassy field shimmered and vanished. When the arena returned to its neutral state, Gloria relaxed, rolling her shoulders as if shaking off the effects.
"Any damage you sustain."
She said, flexing her previously immobile left arm.
"Is cleared the instant the match ends. However."
Her eyes swept across the gathered students.
"The pain you feel during the match is very real. Do not expect your opponents to show mercy simply because the damage isn't permanent."
Was that really the case? The pain you felt is real bit. Because if it was, then Gloria just took a hit to the face, died, and shrugged it off like it was nothing.
No one could do that.
‘Then again, the death would have been instant, so would she have felt any pain?’
Bryan found himself wondering.
Both Alan and Gloria left the duel arena while Lock entered.
“As you can see, the protections are real, and we strongly encourage you to kill one another. It will be a learning experience, and safe. As you have been told today, you will have team matches.”
Lock's rope dart swayed gently at his side as he paced the arena's edge.
"Two teams per match. Victory is achieved when all members of the opposing team are eliminated. Simple enough."
He paused, steel-gray eyes scanning the gathered students.
"However, the arena will randomly select one of our combat environments. You'll have thirty seconds to observe and plan before the match begins. Use that time wisely."
Lock stated before he came to the edge of the arena.
"Team rankings will be determined through a series of matches. Winners face winners. Losers face losers. By the end of today, we'll know exactly where each team stands."
Lock's gaze lingered briefly on each team.
"One final note. While the arena protects you from death, it doesn't stop you from surrendering. There's no shame in recognizing when you're outmatched. Pride won't save you in a real battle."
'Surrender?'
Bryan almost scoffed. He did not plan on losing. Surrendering would be worse.
“Hey.”
Bryan’s thought was cut short when Farrah slid in next to him. He should have paid more attention, but he was so focused on how the pain of death would feel that he lacked awareness of her.
“Need something?”
He asked, giving her a sparing glance.
“We didn’t see you for breakfast—”
“I walked right past your table.”
Bryan interrupted her.
Farrah sighed but didn’t press the matter.
“Yup, you did. You sat alone in the corner of the cafeteria, and we, as in the team, wanted to give you some space. But I wanted to know how you are holding up after yesterday's incident.”
Bryan looked over her shoulder at the other three members, who were standing. They were talking, but he noticed Alexander glance his way.
“I already told you I’m fine. Don’t you have something better to do?”
“So, no more nose bleeds? Did you go back to the medical ward?”
Farrah asked.
“What, do you want my entire medical file? Will that get you to leave me alone? I already told you I’m fine, so take it or leave it. The choice is yours.”
"Team One and Team Three."
Lock's voice was a welcome interruption to Bryan's conversation. He felt that this was not over yet and someone from the team would want to talk to him.
He was not looking forward to that and would avoid it instead. People just needed to learn how to let sleeping dogs lie.
"You're up first. The rest of you, head to the observation platform. You'll want to watch this carefully – you might face one of these teams next."
As the other students began moving toward the elevated platform, Bryan saw his team gathering nearby. Alexander was already opening his mouth, probably to suggest some last-minute strategy.
"Take your positions."
Lock shouted.
They moved to the right side of the duel arena, while team one went to the left side. Even now, Alexander was still talking about the plan, which was to use the formation they had practiced.
Bryan noticed a girl with short black hair waving in their direction as she smiled. He wondered who she was waving at when he saw Sabrina wave back from the corner of his eye.
“That’s Leah, my roommate.”
Sabrina said before anyone could ask.
Christopher whistled.
“So, you going to kill her? Would make for an interesting conversation.”
Alexander laughed a little.
“Might help with her hogging the bathroom. If that’s still a thing.”
Sabrina grinned, showing her teeth.
“Oh, it most definitely is a thing.”
The smooth black surface beneath their feet suddenly shimmered. Bryan felt a slight shift in temperature as the air grew noticeably warmer. The platform began to fragment, sections of ground rising at different heights while gaps formed between them. Within seconds, they were standing on one of several floating islands suspended mid-air.
Sand appeared next, starting as a light dusting before building into proper dunes across the various platforms. Wind picked up, carrying the first waves of sand through the air. Visibility, already limited by the islands' varying heights, deteriorated further as the sandstorm began to build.
"Think that formation will be useless now."
Farrah muttered from somewhere to Bryan's left.
She wasn't wrong. Bryan could make out rope bridges connecting some islands through the growing storm, while other gaps seemed designed for jumping.
The wind howled louder, sand whipping past with increasing intensity. Team One had become little more than shadows in the distance, their forms occasionally visible through breaks in the storm.
'Limited visibility. Unstable footing. Multiple elevation points.'
Bryan analyzed, already mapping potential routes in his mind. The environment would make targeting difficult but also make it harder for them to see his attacks coming.
"Thirty seconds."
Lock announced as the arena finished forming.