"...Hah? An interclass competition?"

Kai furrowed his brows. Right now, he was entirely focused on making Anne fall for him so what the heck was this?

"That's right. Our teacher told us this morning, wasn't your class informed?"

Arata asked while looking around the classroom. It was currently Arcane Class 102 and Arata was currently taking a break from combat so he went over to inform Kai.

"..."

Thinking back, I think I did hear something like that. It's a good way to show off anyway.

"So, how will this interclass competition even work? We have students with several classes."

Arata coughed lightly while taking a seat next to Kai.

"We apparently choose a class to represent. If you choose Arcane, then you represent all of the Arcane classes while you are enemies with the rest."

Kai raised a hand to his chin.

"If it's that then it should work but... what kind of competitions are they? It's not like they can just go for combat, the ones in Rejuvenation are at a disadvantage."

Arcane had magic attacks so it was fine for them, Runes could make Enchanted Gear to match others as well and Alchemy had a multitude of ways to boost themselves.

"Rejuvenation is exempted from combat but you can still join if you want, but you have to represent a second class for that and the points will be given half to Rejuvenation and half to the second class you've chosen."

"Alright, I got it. I'll be representing Rejuvenation. Now, go away, Anne is about to come back, you're in her seat."

"..."

Arata stared at Kai with a dumbfounded face for a second before moving away. Before he left, he whispered to Kai.

"Kenji, you didn't actually fall for her, did you? If you did, then you'll face hell once you see Mio..."

Kai scoffed at Arata's words.

"Fall for her? I'm not an idiot to get caught in my own trap."

Besides, that woman is practically my mortal enemy. We've been at each other's throats for years that I even have a better relationship with some villains.

With a doubtful face, Arata left the room and soon enough, Anne walked in.

"Satou Kenji, I wanted to talk to you. What class are you going to represent for the interclass competition?"

This was important for her plans after all.

"I'll represent whatever you choose."

With a smile, Kai told Anne.

"...I'm going to be representing Rejuvenation."

"Then I am too."

At first, she planned to represent Arcane but thinking that Kai wouldn't follow her to Rejuvenation, chose it instead. She could just take back her words and choose Arcane behind his back but as the president, she had her own pride.

Anne sighed once more.

I've been sighing a lot these past four days than I have in half my life.

"Do what you want."

----------------------------------------

This time's interclass competition wasn't announced ahead of schedule to prevent others from forming plans and soon enough, it was held right after the second class of the day.

Most of the factions had around one hundred and fifty students while the ones who held the least numbers were Runes and Rejuvenation with fifty three and twenty seven respectively. Alchemy was a little better off with above eighty.

Naturally, the students were focusing more on the combat portion rather than the other tests. If you win in the tests, you'd gain points for your faction but none of that would do anything in the future. On the other hand, showing results in fights would make noble houses and the knights to recruit the participants after graduation.

Anne was S-class and she was forbidden from fighting unless she suppressed her power using devices made by the academy but she hadn't applied for a secondary faction and was hence excluded.

Of course, not everyone will be allowed to fight as this event was only held within the day. Actually, the event didn't even allow everyone to participate. Some would idle from beginning to end while some would be excluded from the starting phases and inducted into the combat phases.

It was all decided with the jurisdiction of the teacher and majority of the participants' decision meaning that an unknown student would never get the chance.

Everyone had gathered in the large arena. All of the participants within their respective faction wore armbands to match their flag. Arcane had an orb with magic surrounding it, Combat had two swords, Archery had a Bow with a loaded arrow, Alchemy had a cauldron, Runes had a rune which was read as 'sky', and Rejuvenation had two hands holding a plant.

The majority of the beginning tests were just like those held in class. Magic control, strength utilization, barrier strength, and piercing power.

Barriers were something that all of the classes learned because it was necessary. Magic control was vital for every class as well. Strength was different, the combat and archery classes held an advantage to the rest and therefore, the points awarded to it was less. Piercing power involved breaking the barriers using any means possible, these barriers were matched according to the user's level of power.

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An E-class would face an E-class barrier, a D-class would face a D-class barrier, so and so forth.

Being one of the only twenty seven in Rejuvenation, Kai had to participate in at least two of the events but he chose all four. Anne had only chosen three which made the two of them the ones with the most events in the faction.

Needless to say, they had to cooperate. No matter which of them won, the points awarded to the faction were still the same.

At the end of the competition, the team with the most points would get personal lessons from the principal himself which may even lead to being chosen as a disciple and be gifted an Enchanted Gear for the most noteworthy. In every competition, perhaps only five or six from each faction would get a chance but only one or two each faction would get an Enchanted Gear in the end.

Still, to have the leisure of giving away ten or so Enchanted Gear each time they held a competition was evident of their wealth. Sure, Kai could give hundreds of them without a problem but in Alteria, only about three or four people for every hundred knights held an Enchanted Gear.

Atop the arena, a man with white hair, eyes, and beard sat down. His presence quickly silenced the hustle and bustle of the audience and participants. The audience was composed of the students who didn't participate, nobles, knights, and the rest were filled with people who were allowed to enter.

This competition was open to the public to show their generosity but in reality, it was to simply show the public that the youths being trained at the academy were still standing strong.

Sweeping his gaze over the audience, he found the Soul Thief wearing a uniform. Erina and the others may not be able to notice him because he looked like a normal student but his soul was something that Kai was familiar with. Beside him, sat another student, from the figure, it was a woman, with a cowl and mask to cover her face.

This time, Kai was sure that he had met the woman before but seeing as how the Soul Thief was beside her, she must've been a soul taken from someone else. Neither the Soul Thief or the woman should've been able to see him but in the moment his gaze swept past the woman, he saw her eyes staring at him. It may just be a coincidence or she may have been looking at somewhere else but Kai was sure that this woman was looking at him.

Kai furrowed his brows. To not be able to discern her identity from this far, this meant that she was at least S-class. His reason for being here was most likely to find a soul to take but he already had an S-class beside him, there were few candidates available.

"Guess it'll be more troublesome than I thought."

Without knowing of Kai's silent distress, the principal finished with his short speech.

"-And so, the interclass competition begins!"

A roar of cheers erupted from both the audience and the students participating. To all of them, it was a joyous day but little did they know, there were monsters participating in the competition. Not just one or two, but eight all with the guise of transfer students.

Magic Control

"That's the third son of the house of Seymour!"

"Don't mind him, look to the left! It's the heiress of the Lathams!"

"So many famous ones participating right at the start, isn't this going to be even better than the last one two years ago?!"

The crowd began to get rowdy at all the participants going to the center of the arena.

There were several instructors in a line already waiting. The participants formed lines according to their factions and those at the front were handed a metal ball each.

The participants waited for the instructions without hurry.

"This is a shape-memory orb. No matter what you do, the shape is already molded. Our test today is to force the orb to form something else and hold it for as long as possible. Each wave of participants will get a random object taken from this box."

Saying so, one of the instructors held out a box filled with slips of paper. Then, another instructor pulled out one piece.

"The object is quill!"

Immediately, one of the instructors rang the small bell in his hands. The participants already knew about the interclass competition and immediately set to work.

One of the participants, a brown haired man held the ball floating between his palms as veins protruded on his forehead. The mana he used was immense as the orb began to deform.

Next to him, another one of the participants tried to slowly mold the ball but seeing as how it didn't have any effect, began to use more power.

The rest of the four participants had already molded the balls by a sixteenth while one of them molded it by a fourteenth.

Seeing them, Kai yawned, eliciting the glares from the participants around him.

Only after about seven minutes had passed did one participant finish before collapsing to the floor. He managed to form the quill for two seconds. The next participant was only a few seconds away from the first and held it for nearly two seconds.

In the end, the six of them only held it for a couple of seconds while one of them neared three seconds. Many were impressed while the crowd roared.

Is it really that impressive...?

Kai smiled wryly and waited for his turn.

Amelia and Erina didn't want to participate and were already in the crowd. In the magic control test, only Kai was participating.

After about half an hour, it finally came for his turn.

"The object is a sword!"

Hearing that, the participants with him all despaired. Kai on the other hand, just nonchalantly juggled the ball with one hand.

The instructors glared at him as the bell sounded signifying the start. It was just the start yet the instructor's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Kai's orb formed into a sword in front of their eyes in just a second.

There was utter silence but the person being stared at didn't even budge.

"...Aren't you guys going to move?"

Kai said as he looked at the participants all staring at him with wide eyes and slack-jawed.

Hearing his reminder, everyone quickly rushed themselves with even more motivation but seeing as how they couldn't finish even after five minutes, all gave up.

That wasn't only the bizarre sight.

Over at the strength utilization, Arata, Kei, Date, Kai, Iori, and Yoko all participated.

Needless to say, their results surpassed everyone else's but Kai had still taken first place. The test was to lift weights which had runes to increase their setting.

Kai lifted over a hundred thousand kilograms which was the absolute limit of the weights. Arata, Kei, Date, and Iori lifted up to eighty thousand while Yoko lifted to sixty thousand.

Barrier strength, they had all managed to last for the entirety of the time given to a student which was five minutes.

And lastly, piercing power.

With the exception of Kai, Yoko, and Iori, the rest were given B-class barriers to destroy which took them only less than a minute. Kai, Yoko, and Iori faced A-class barriers which they all destroyed in nearly an instant.

Now, Anne was certain that all of these transfer students were monsters.

She had participated in the magic control, barrier strength, and piercing power events but she kept on taking second place after Kai. Instead of shock and fear, everyone felt that it was rigged but Anne and the instructors hadn't spoken a word and kept the competition ongoing.

At the end of the four events, Rejuvenation took the lead by a two hundred point gap, Combat took second place with two hundred points, and Arcane took third place with a hundred and fifty. The noteworthy participant for their class was Sachiko who participated only in piercing power, she managed to destroy the A-class barrier in a second.

Soon, it became time for the combat tournament. The rules stated that challengers will be drawn by lots and new participants would be chosen every half minute. This meant that the farther you get chosen, the better the odds of winning.

Kai was in Rejuvenation and hadn't applied for a second faction so he couldn't participate.

Who knows whether it was a coincidence or if it was planned all along but... the first participant was Yoko and the second participant was the one whose arm she broke.