“It seems like he just has a very severe case of mana exhaustion. We've given him some food that should help his body produce more, but it will still probably be a few hours before he wakes up.” Katy sighed in relief. The lady looked and sounded professional, with a white lab coat and brown hair that stopped just below her neck. Her green eyes scanned her clipboard, most likely to make sure there wasn’t any other news they might need.
“Honestly given his track record I’m kind of amazed it took him this long to end up in the hospital.” Most of the group chuckled, she noticed that Luna decidedly did not. She understood the guilt Luna must be feeling, it was because she got cursed that Azura was in the hospital. Even as angry as she was that he was hurt she knew it wasn’t really Luna’s fault, even if part of her really wanted the easy outlet for the negative feelings him being in the hospital brought.
“I’m sorry, it’s all my fault he ended up like this, he told me that I needed to keep calm and that dark feelings could make the curse flare again. He trusted me to stop talking when it was getting too hard for me, but I though-” Luna started rambling, as tears began to form in her eyes.
“Ok ok, no need for the pity party” Luna’s eyes widened at her. “Stuff happens, and if you think this is the first time Azura’s been in the hospital because he did something way above his level when someone needed help then you're dreaming.” The guilt was still there. But she could see Luna relaxing a little. “He likes to say he doesn’t really do self-sacrifice, but I think it only really qualifies as that to him if he dies.”
Luna managed a small smile, which she figured was extra good, because Azura wasn’t conscious to re-establish his curse seal if she let it get out of control again.
“I obviously don’t know him as well as you do, but it seems to me that it must be his destiny to be hospitalized. It’s like the world kept throwing something worse and worse at him until he finally took a dive. I mean seriously he looked like he had just lost a fight with a meat grinder when I first saw him, but he was smiling about how cool the school was or some such nonsense.” She laughed, she couldn’t wait to share Lily’s words with him. She knew him well enough to know he would agree and then grumble about the unfairness of it all.
“I don’t know, we all passed out after the first trial which wasn’t too long ago. You would think that would constitute a reset.” Roran chipped in, and she was really grateful he was managing his volume.
“It did, our next trial was a stupid test. Azura was ecstatic.” She was more happy with the life and death trials they had now than she was with that one. It was kind of nice having friends she could share her troubles with other than just him.
***
Azura felt much better upon waking this time, and that good feeling lasted all the way until he realized he was in a hospital. “Ugh Katy’s never going to let me hear the end of this.” He bemoaned his luck. The trials weren’t even over and he was already in the hospital.
“You’re lucky that’s the worst you are going through.” He acknowledged the presence of the doctor in the room. She looked amused, so at least there probably wouldn’t be any lasting problems. “Your friends were pretty tightlipped about what you were doing to get such acute mana strain and exhaustion. You must have pumped quite a bit of mana through your body really quickly to damage it like you did.”
He as usual was thankful for all the studying he did. She was trying to make it sound worse than it was to try and get him to reveal what he had done. He had no doubt that he had damaged his pathways to some extent, but he also knew they were in perfect working order now. “Can’t afford to be slacking right at the end, now can I?” He fell back on his typical aversion method. Tongue and cheek.
She snorted. “Yeah, but it’s not a good time to be hurting yourself severely either, I advise you to be a lot more careful.” Her amused expression faded to something a bit more serious. “Your friends were worried about you too, even asked if it was bad to have mana strain frequently. I doubt I can stop you from doing whatever you’re doing, but be very careful. One slip up, and your pathways might be scarred for the rest of your life.”
Well that was worrying, he hadn’t realized he had caused enough damage to himself that wounding that severe was a possibility. “I thank you for your advice, I shall endeavor to follow it to the best of my ability.” She chuckled at his formal bow.
“Yeah yeah, don’t lie to my face.” Saw through that did she? “I imagine your injury had something to do with the blond one, she looked guilty the entire time they were here.” Yeah he would like to say that it wasn’t her fault, and it wasn’t, but it also was in a way so he didn’t think she would be willing to let it go even if he did.
“Only in the way, that something meant only for her was the cause of me casting a spell above my means.” That was more info than he had intended to give. Not enough to do anything with really, but definitely enough to start profiling his character.
“Ahh yes I see. Heroics are the cause of plenty of hospital visits. I’d advise caution with that. Heroes have a way of ending up dead.” He noticed she sounded a little somber at that. He didn’t think he could do what she did, how many people must have passed on in this very room. No one could save everyone, but even still she struck him as the kind of person who tried even so.
“Oh no worries there, I’m not the self-sacrificing type. I prefer to use more creative solutions.” She chuckled, he figured that this wasn’t the first time she had heard similar sentiments by the nostalgia spreading across her face.
“Is that so? Well anyway I’ve kept you here long enough. You’ve spent most of your first prep day here, so I imagine you have some catching up to do.”
He winced, how long had he been here anyway. A look at his time telling spell told him that it was 6 hours after noon. His eyes widened. “Quite right you are, thank you for your assistance.” He bowed one last time before rushing out the door.
***
Azura did feel a little guilty about not meeting his friends after leaving the hospital, but his 5 hours in the library had already kept him awake longer than he probably should have been. Apparently his nap in the hospital wasn’t enough for his body to fully recover, because his body was exhausted. He was relieved when the door to his room was finally in sight. However the sight that greeted him upon opening it was wholly unexpected.
He gave a soft smile to his friends who were spread out across the floor sleeping. They were going to give him hell tomorrow, but that they had waited in his room for his return was very endearing. He would have to come up with some kind of thank you gift for them. Although it would probably be a long while before he had that kind of time.
They still had a prep day left before the next trial, he could probably enchant one of their items. No one had said anything about magic items being against the rules for the trials. Probably because a student hopeful with a single magic item was probably a pretty rare prospect. Artificers did not sell their services for cheap, that was for sure.
He crept to his bed as quietly as possible, and it was only right before sleep had claimed him that he thought he heard someone react to his presence. “I’m glad you’re ok.” Those words welcomed him into the land of dreams.
***
Azura was starting to get a little antsy. The fifth trial was taking place in a huge colosseum. The less than 200 remaining students sat in groups spread out through the many rows of seats. Only 4 fights have been called so far, and honestly he found them a little underwhelming. Lily was currently mopping the floor with her opponent. Her fire magic was so intense he could feel it from all the way up here. The poor guy she was fighting was dodging for his life.
Frankly he wasn’t sure he would be able to beat her either. She had done a good job of keeping just how strong she really was under wraps. She hadn’t even used her unique magic yet, at least he didn’t think so. He got the feeling it wouldn’t be something subtle enough for him not to notice it. Unique magic or not, that kid hadn’t stood a chance. He finally surrendered after she had created an orb of fire just barely smaller than the stone floor of the coliseum above their heads.
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Lily bowed to the audience and then walked through one of the doors down on the floor. There was one for each cardinal direction. After a few minutes she walked up behind them. “That was lame. I was so hyped for this one too.”
Katy laughed. “Yeah I’m pretty excited too, I really hope I don’t get an opponent like yours.”
He rolled his eyes. It wasn’t that the boy had been super weak or anything, but really what were you supposed to do when flames could overtake an entire area like that. If he had to guess she was probably the strongest of the hopefuls except for maybe Gareth. Well she was definitely stronger than him, but he didn’t think he would lose if it came down to it. “Hey cut him a little slack will you, it’s not his fault Lily is absolutely monstrous.”
Lily’s cheshire grin made a chill go down his spine. “Awww thanks, that’s so sweet of you to say.”
He chuckled. “I would say honesty is a virtue, but I like half-truths too much for it to mean much coming from me.”
Katy sighed in exasperation. “Don’t even get me started. You are so full of it sometimes.” He held his hand to his chest and reared back in mock offense. She cut him off before he could speak. “Don’t even mister there is a birthday party.”
Yeah she was never going to let that go. “There was! Somewhere out there someone must have been having a birthday party!” He guessed by their dead pan looks that all of the others were on Katy’s side of the argument. “I can see you all siding with her, but you don’t have any idea how hard it was to get her to study back then.” She flushed in embarrassment as the rest of their friends finally cracked and started laughing.
After a second he and Katy joined in the laughter as the next match was called. It was two people he didn’t know, but it was easily the most interesting fight so far. Neither of them were as strong as Lily, but the fight was much less one sided. The girl with brown hair was a control type, using plants and rock to dominate the field, but the guy she was fighting was a real juggernaut, and while his fire spells weren’t anything special when combined with his immense physical strength the results were fairly impressive.
“Wow! I’ve never seen anyone that specializes in nature magic use it for combat before!” It looks like Roran was really pumped about this fight.
“I’m not surprised, outside of areas with abundant plantlife the energy cost is usually vastly more than the effect is worth. Nature specialists are devastating in areas where they can use their powers to the fullest though.” If the fight was in a forest instead of a stone colosseum it would have been completely one sided just like the other fights they have seen so far. As it was though it was a fairly intense fight. The nature mage was flagging though. The Juggernaut was using far less magic, so he wasn’t at any risk of running out. He looked a little tired from physical exertion, but it seemed obvious the nature mage was going to give out first.
She actually surprised him a little with her last ditch effort. She let him close the distance so she could put all her magic into one last powerful attack. It wasn’t enough. She managed to injure her much bigger opponent, but his skin turned metallic and prevented most of the injuries. The big guy did not come out unscathed though some of the rock spikes and thorny vines had torn through weak spots in his defense and he was bleeding rather profusely.
This was the first fight that got more than some light applause. Even he clapped a little, impressed by the ingenuity of both of the fighters. “I was starting to worry all these fights were going to be complete mismatches.”
Roran nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah me too! But that was totally awesome. I’m so pumped for my fight. I want to see as much different magic up close as I can!” Even aside from his excessive energy Roran was a bit of an enigma to him. He was strong, at least among the hopefuls, but he was way weaker than he should be given his age. Azura couldn’t believe that Roran of all people skipped training often enough to only be at this level. “It’s not really nice to evaluate your friends like that Azura.”
Right, it was easy to forget under the childlike personality, but Roran was definitely astute. “The odds may be slim, but there is no guarantee we won’t have to fight each other. Got to get what I can.” Oops that may have set the tone, as all of them were examining each other now. Well except for Lily she had already fought and was confident she had already passed this trial. Not that he could blame her.
“Oh relax, will you, it’s not like you’re going to uncover any weaknesses in the next few minutes that you have missed for the last two weeks.” Lily’s haughty comment seemed to break through the tension he had accidentally caused. Perhaps he shouldn’t have relaxed around them to quite that extent, he hadn’t been choosing his words carefully.
“Yes you’re quite right, my apologies I seem to have gotten a bit carried away.” That made most of them relax, but Katy still looked vaguely uncomfortable. By her reaction she saw through his reaction and realized he had drawn back a little, but it was fine they shouldn’t really be getting too attached yet anyway, there was no guarantee all of them would pass after all.
The staredown between him and Katy was broken by a fight called with a name they knew. They all gave Cynthia worried looks. She was the weakest among them hands down. Her telepathy and healing spells were undoubtedly useful, but not so much for fighting. Her telepathy only picked up surface thoughts when a link was established. So unless her opponent thought through their moves it wouldn’t help her much.
“Don’t worry! You’ve definitely got this!” Roran’s encouragement eased some of the tension and the rest of them wished her luck. Her opponent was the boy that Lily had absolutely thrashed. Azura didn’t know much about Cynthia’s fighting ability, but from what Katy has said about her first trial he wasn’t exactly thrilled with her odds.
***
Cynthia was not ready for this. It was taking all of her will just to refrain from panicking. All she really had going for her was that Azura had enchanted her boots to help her move faster. There wasn’t a time limit to the fights so she couldn’t just run away and hope for a tie, but she didn’t know what else to do. She wasn’t really a combatant at all. She tried to remember the few lessons Katy and Luna had given her in melee combat, but they were all defensive and evasive.
Azura had warned them that she was going to have to be able to attack at some point, but she figured they would take her skillset as a medic into account. She should have known ignoring his advice was going to backfire, he had been right about almost all of his theories about the trials so far.
She took a deep breath, there was nothing for it now. She was just going to have to do her best, and hope everything worked out. She had watched all the fights intently, since she knew she was going to need any advantage she could get, but his fight was so one sided that she didn’t know much about her opponent’s abilities.
She walked through the south gate into the huge central area, her opponent walking out from the north gate across from her. He must have been eager to make a showing after his utter defeat at Lily’s hand, because as soon as the bell rang he rushed at her full speed. She unleashed a flash of light and dove to the right.
His eyes were squinted shut, but he still dodged the small ball of light she had tossed at him. His eyes reopened, and he circled her instead of immediately charging this time. “I normally wouldn’t want to be so aggressive against a cute girl like you, but I can’t afford to lose two matches.” She panicked as the wind began to pick up. She barely dodged out of the way as he charged at her. He was way faster now, and even worse she had dodged his dagger completely, and yet there was still a thin wound on her waist.
The wind was circling him violently, almost like invisible armor. She didn’t get much of a chance to examine it before he was charging her again. If she hadn’t been training with her new friends she wouldn’t have thought this kind of speed was possible, but she thought Luna at least was even faster. Even so she was barely keeping up, if Azura hadn’t enchanted her boots she definitely would have lost already.
She wasn’t completely without offensive magic, but her shooting stars weren’t very effective against armor, even if it was just particularly strong wind. Thankfully if nothing else they were fast to cast and very adaptable, so the arena was covered in little motes of light from the missed or deflected shooting stars. They wouldn’t stick around very long without her direct focus, but multi-casting was one of her few talents, and she could maintain a decent level of awareness of all the lights currently in the field.
She didn’t know how long the fight had been going for, but her opponent didn’t even bother dodging her attacks anymore and that meant she was starting to wrack up injuries. It got to the point where she had actually had to stop attacking to heal herself, or risk passing out from blood loss. Her clothes were covered in cuts and blood, even if there weren’t any visible injuries on her.
“Just give up already! Your attacks are useless and you must be running on fumes at this point.” Part of her feared he might be right, but Lily had given her an idea for a powerful attack spell even she could do. Just a little more, if she could hang on just a little longer. He had attacked her relentlessly for a while now, and she didn’t think she would be able to keep dodging for much longer. Her magic was running a little low, but her biggest issue was physical exhaustion.
Her opponent barely even looked tired, the wind still whipping violently around him, but she was already running on fumes. It would have to be enough, she couldn’t keep this up any longer. She polled as much of her remaining mana as she could afford to in a blinding flash of light. It stopped her opponent long enough for her to do what she needed to.
The hundreds of small floating lights she left in the air and on the arena’s walls began to form glowing threads of light between them as she carefully connected them into a complex web of light. Her opponent lost his composure for the first time in the fight when his eyes opened to the sea of light in front of him.
Apparently he decided this one might be a threat, because he rushed at her to try and stop her. She just smiled, he was too late. The web of light constricted on him in the blink of an eye. A vaguely humanoid cocoon of light now stood upright in front of her in place of her opponent. She was panting. She just had to fini- why was the ground rushing up to meet her? She blacked out before her head even hit the ground.