It was early morning, with a little amount of light trickling into Arnos's room from outside. He was lying on his bed, unaware of anything or everything else in his surroundings, until a sound broke his sleep.
Arnos's eyes fluttered open, his vision slowly adjusting to the dim surroundings. He kept lying on the bed, looking at the chandelier on the room's ceiling.
After a moment of staring the ceiling, Arnos sat up on his bed and stretched both of his hands above his head. He bent his head towards the right as he stretched his hands. Relieved from all the built-up tension from sleeping, Arnos looked at the curtained window.
It's quite early, Arnos thought to himself as he looked at the curtained window. There wasn't any sun rays coming in yet, it was the time was before the sunrise.
Arnos sat on his bed aimlessly, his attention shifted to the outside when he heard another loud sound of something clashing.
Arnos moved to the edge of the bed and picked up the black shoes he had worn yesterday, simply slipping them onto his toes. He then stood from the bed and walked toward the window. He peeked outside, trying to find the source of the sound, but it was to no avail. That's when he remembered about Training Arena 3 or Celera's training arena.
Is somebody training there? He wondered as he walked out of his room.
Arnos moved toward the main hall. It was empty, but the western gate, present on the right of the stairs, was open. Arnos walked toward the gate, remembering how the western gate led to the training arena and herb garden.
Exiting the building, Arnos's eyes fell on a duel taking place in the training arena—a familiar and an unfamiliar face in front of him.
On one side was Seras, who was wearing a blue top with puffed white sleeve, and a matching blue pyjama. Her long pink hair tied in a single ponytail. She was glaring at the boy in front of her, somebody Arnos didn't quite recognise.
That's a weird choice of clothes to spar in, Arnos thought to himself with a surprised expression.
Arnos looked at the unfamiliar face. Taking note of his brown hair, eyes, and overall physique, Arnos noticed how he was slightly taller than Seras.
Is he one of the seniors? Arnos questioned himself as he looked at him. He noticed both of them were holding there respective staff and maintaining some distance from each other.
Arnos noticed the staff the boy with brown hairs was holding. It was a silver staff, well over a meter long, narrower and pointed at the base, while the top simply ended with a golden loop.
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Arnos then looked at Seras's staff. It was unique in design; the top of the staff had a five-petal flower design, and half of the staff, from the top to the middle, was made of wood. The lower part of the staff was made of brown metallic material, resembling a sword's blade, capable of offence.
It's like a sword, Arnos thought to himself, astonished by Seras's weapon. He kept standing still at the gate, not moving an inch or making any sound, since he wasn't interested in disturbing their duel.
"Erik, will you just keep standing there or actually do something?" Seras said, a mocking smirk playing on her lips as she directed her jab at Erik.
"Lance," Erik chanted as he raised his right hand. Three projectiles, a pair of swords and a spear made of light materialized in front of him. With a flick of his wrist, Erik immediately directed them toward Seras.
Seras responded with "Lance" as well. Three projectiles made up of dark magic materialised in front of her, a pair of spears and a sword, these projectiles intercepted Erik's attack and caused all of his projectiles to miss her.
Seras mumbled, "Quick Step," closing the gap between her and Erik. The assault was frontal. Seras clenched the staff's upper wooden portion and used it to slash the lower metallic portion at Erik, targeting his right hand in the process.
Erik stepped back, barely avoiding the attack, while Seras quickly regained her posture.
"You're getting better at avoiding attacks. Guess all the running away when things get hard is helping you," Seras said with a smirk, playfully mocking Erik.
"Seriously Seras," Erik replied. "Firstly, a mage shouldn't attack upfront like this. You're supposed to cast spells from a distance and win. Don't you know that?"
"Nope I don't know about any such rule," Seras said with a smirk. "Lance!" she shouted again, as two swords made up of dark magic materialized in the air. They moved toward Erik with blinding speed, targeting his right hand and left leg.
Erik clenched his staff, and as he did, light magic aura enveloped its top. With unwavering precision, Erik moved the staff, breaking both dark magic projectiles in a single fluid motion.
Arnos noticed something strange. As the swords made of dark magic were broken by Erik, Seras muttered something else which he wasn't able to hear.
And that's when Erik's eyes widened. Seras had cast a light-affinity veil spell.
A sword made of light materialized just behind him and slashed his left hand in one quick motion. Causing his grip on his staff to loosen and make it fall on the ground.
Seras walked towards Erik, smiling at him. "You died," she said as she pointed her staff towards Erik with a small smile as she released her light-elemental Veil that she had casted.
"When did you cast Veil?" Erik asked, his brown eyes wide with astonishment directed at Seras.
"When I attacked you with the Lance spell, it was meant to be a diversion," Seras replied. Her yellow eyes shifted sideways as she noticed Arnos standing in front of the building, watching their interaction.
"You're up early," Seras said, glancing at Arnos.
"Yeah, I like to wake up early," Arnos replied. I shouldn't mention they woke me up with their duel—they might feel bad, he thought to himself.
He shifted his attention to Erik. He seems unwell, Arnos thought to himself, as he looked at Erik.
"Arnos, why don't you come here and train with us?" Seras said, gesturing for him to join them. "I think Erik isn't much of a match for me today," she added, casting a mocking smirk in Erik's direction.