Azura couldn’t believe that had actually worked. Relief shot through him as his name was called with the others. Unfortunately the relief was quickly overshadowed by pain. Now that the battle was over, and he had nothing left to heal or dull the injury, all of the injuries Kaiser had given him began to throb. He decided getting up wasn’t worth the effort and continued to lie there with his arm sticking out. His hand rested firmly in his dorm. Kaiser was still standing beside him completely befuddled. His opponent only even realized he was there when his last copy dispelled, returning a small amount of mana to him.
His plan had been a dangerous one for sure, more than anything he was amazed he was still awake. He had used all of his mana, every last drop. For that was the only way Kaiser wouldn’t be able to sense his presence. To his surprise Once the 4th year noticed him it didn’t take long for Kaiser to burst out laughing. “The explosion the first time was just to make me think the 2nd 1 was also a copy huh? Well, you got me, I thought I had you for sure. Got to say though, the prize is pretty disappointing. Or at least it was when I got it.” The man who had thoroughly thrashed him walked away. He still didn’t move.
“Wow! I can’t believe you made it. How did you get past Crimson?” He groaned. The foreign mana was a little uncomfortable when he had only a sliver left of his own mana, even more so when it had been completely empty mere seconds ago. He had never actually gone to empty before, it wasn’t good for the body to have none left. He did a partial activation of his body enchantments, none of the boosts, but he needed to draw some mana from them, and use them to increase his body’s recovery speed.
“Sheer technicality.” And it was true, all he had managed to get past him was a hand, but apparently that was enough to qualify. His plan obviously wouldn’t have worked out in the real world. Getting just a hand into wherever he was trying to go wouldn’t help him, and he’d be killed shortly after. Kaiser would have just dragged him back if he had made any sudden moves, and it was only the fact he tricked the 4th year into thinking he was a copy that even let him get his hand past the now nonexistent door.
He hoped he didn’t have to pay for that. Desperate times and all that. He heard a laugh in his head. It didn’t hurt anymore with him pulling mana from his storage enchantments, and the recovery ones active it wouldn’t take long for him to get back to full health, or rather to the point where he was no longer in immediate danger. “Even if by technicality, that’s no small feat.” He knew that. He was the one who had faced Kaiser, he knew how strong the 4th year was, or more accurately he knew that the 4th year had actually held back considerably. Not in terms of speed or strength, but in not casting many spells, and the ones that were cast, weren’t used to their highest potential. He could tell that much from their ‘fight’ not that it could really be called as such.
“Frankly I’m just glad to be done with it, I hurt all over and very much need a break.” Despite all the pain and exhaustion he couldn’t help but smile. He had done it, against impossible odds he had managed to come out on top. He didn’t win the fight against Kaiser, but who expected him to be able to beat a 4th year, Especially one who was just as well trained as he was. The current head of House Crimson wasn’t as strong as his father, but he was no weakling either, and according to rumors he had really high hopes for his eldest son. Azura could understand why, after this little event. He wouldn’t be surprised if Kaiser was already stronger than the older Crimson.
He doubted he would be that strong, even as a 4th year, not to say he wouldn’t be able to fight at that level, but he was probably going to need enchantment boost to do so. “You sound like you need a rest.” He chuckled. Wasn’t that the understatement of the year. He finally felt recovered enough to stand up, even if his legs were a little wobbly he managed to stay standing.
“Whether I make it to my bed or not, wherever I fall is where I’ll sleep.” He heard her laugh in his head as he shakily walked towards his bed, he deactivated his enchantments, no point wasting stored mana if he was just going to sleep anyway. In the end he did not in fact make it to his bed, but the middle of his floor was surprisingly comfortable as sleep took him.
***
Katy smirked when the announcement came. Until told otherwise she was going to believe that the names were announced in the order that they had made it to their rooms. Which meant she was first. Which was honestly to be expected, her skillset was practically designed for events like that. Her advantage wasn’t going to stop her from rubbing it in to their friends that didn’t make it to their rooms. Or Azura who was the last of the ones that did for that matter.
After the event had concluded she left her dorm to head towards Cynthia’s. Since her telepathy range was limited, even if it was still a pretty impressive range, it was a general rule of thumb that heading towards her dorm was the fastest way to get in contact with each other. Sure enough it didn’t take long before she heard the familiar voice in her head. “Congratulations on making it to your room. Not that anyone doubted you would.” She smiled. Her skillset gave her a pretty major advantage, but it was still nice to hear all of her friends believed in her.
“You too, I’m honestly mostly surprised Luna didn’t make it. Her sensory range is huge. Then again her luck is even worse than Azura’s, so I’m sure there is quite the story behind that.” She had no doubt Azura would have quite the story of his own to share. She idly wondered if he ran into any trouble. Although Azura’s dorm was in Cynthia’s range wasn’t it? “ Speaking of our leader, have you heard from Azura?”
The laugh echoed in her head for a second before the words followed. “Yeah, he ran into quite a bit of trouble it seems. He’s sleeping at the moment. Honestly I’m amazed he made it at all, but it didn’t come without cost. I’d be amazed if he woke up before tomorrow.” That tracked, Azura was almost as good at getting out of trouble as he was at getting into it… Almost. Still he really needed to work on that whole passing out thing, he did that a lot. She wondered if he did it on purpose, like secretly he just really liked to sleep and used all the intense fights as an excuse to sleep more.
“That sounds like him. What did he end up fighting a group of 4th years or something?” She doubted it would be something that extreme. Azura was really good, she’d be the first to admit it, but even he wasn’t that good. Against a single superior opponent Azura could probably pull something off with his copies, but against several? Even he wouldn’t be able to wiggle out of that situation.
“Thankfully not, but his situation wasn’t much better. His opponent was the heir of House Crimson.” She was sure that was supposed to mean something to her, but she never really paid attention to that kind of thing, no matter how much Azura tried to tell her it was important. Azura would tell her about it when he recounted the story, so she decided not to ask about it. No reason to hear the boring parts twice.
“I see, well it sounds like he’ll be resting for the day. What about the ones that didn’t make it? You heard from any of them yet?” She was looking forward to boasting a little. It wasn’t everyday that she did the best out of everyone. Especially given the fact Roran had the huge advantage of being way older than the rest of them. Then again he also had the disadvantage of being physically younger.
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“None have entered my telepathy range yet, but I’ll let you know when one do- Oh nevermind 1 second…” She chuckled, Cynthia’s telepathy really was super convenient. Aside from Lily’s most unique magics she had come across were, which made her a little jealous if she was being honest. She wondered what her unique magic would be if she had one. Azura always joked that her unique magic was finding secret passage ways. It wouldn't be a bad power to have if it was true, but she knew it wasn’t. She had put in a lot of time and effort into finding each and every one, so she could say for sure that wasn’t it.
Perhaps something like her familiar could do. Phasing through walls would come in very handy. She shrugged, there wasn’t really any point to this line of thought, she didn’t have one, and that was fine. Most people didn’t. Even in this school she doubted even a quarter of the students had a unique magic, and this school was for training the best of the best. At least she could say she’s flourished without any natural advantages. Well aside from being pretty agile naturally, but she had to train pretty hard to get to this point either way.
“... Sorry about that, Lily just entered my range. We should all be connected now.” She winced. Lily would be the most upset about not making it. Lily was also the most powerful member of their group so whoever captured her probably didn’t have a very fun time.
“This event was dumb, we were outnumbered 6 to 1, and all of the opponents were older and stronger. I even managed to beat 2 2nd years, before a 3rd year showed up. I hope he enjoys those burns.” She raised an eyebrow. She knew Lily was strong, but taking out 2 2nd years was a pretty impressive feat even if it was 2 1v1s rather than them attacking her friend at the same time.
“Yikes, sounds like you made quite the showing at least. Once I separated from the group I was able to go full on stealth mode, and with so few of the older years outside of the starting area, and most of those being busy dealing with everyone else I didn’t have any trouble getting to my room.” In a normal situation she wasn’t sure she could sneak past some of the older students, but with all that chaos going on? She would have been deeply ashamed if she was got despite all the advantages she had in this scenario.
“Yeah yeah, we know you’re sneaky. It’s just annoying, like what’s even the point? What are we supposed to learn from something this 1 sided? That sometimes there is nothing you can do? It just seems demoralizing to me.” Lily had a point. She couldn’t help but agree. Azura’s strategy gave them a chance, but even then half of their friends didn’t make it and by the sounds of it Azura himself only made it by the skin of his teeth.
“I think it’s more to give all the first years an idea of how much improving they need to do. I mean aside from me and Katy everyone got to see first hand just how powerful the higher years were. I mean even the most powerful outliers in our year were just barely a match for the weaker end of the 2nd years. If you take into consideration the vast gap between the strongest and weakest of our year, overcoming that gap in only a year is beyond impressive. Even if the weakest still fell just a little short.” She hadn’t thought about it that way, but Cynthia was right. Lily may have been able to beat a couple of the 2nd years, but by the sound of it neither was an easy fight. And it sounded like the fight against the 3rd year was pretty one sided. If Lily had managed to fight on even footing with a 3rd year then the girl wouldn’t be near this upset.
“Whatever, I don’t care. I’ll just get even stronger, I don’t care if they’ve had a few more years of practice, I don’t intend to lose to anyone going forward.” Hearing Lily get all fired up actually kicked her own competitive nature to the forefront. She was going to get better too. She couldn’t afford to give anything less than her all. Not after all the hard work it had taken to get here, both her own and Azura’s in helping her train.
“Well if you don't want to lose then I guess you won’t want to spar with me?” She wasn’t Lily’s match in combat, but Azura always said it wasn’t always the better fighter that won. She had taken that lesson to heart. Win or lose didn’t really matter to her, but she’d give it everything she had.
“Oh it’s on ninja girl. Don’t think I’ll hold back just because we’re friends.” She’d be offended if Lily even considered it. She may not have any super powerful offensive spells like most of their little group, but she was confident she could hold her own all the same.
Alright you 2, maybe hold off on killing each other for now, today has been pretty busy already. I think we can afford to at least use the rest of the day to relax.” She was in tip top shape, but she knew Lily wasn’t, so she reluctantly agreed with Cynthia’s suggestion. She couldn’t have Lily using prior combat as an excuse when she knocked the girl on her ass.
“Fine, I can wait a day to show the kitty-cat not to mess with me.” She narrowed her eyes at the banter. Lily was so going down. They all knew how much she hated being called that. She didn’t get a chance to respond as a new voice was added to their little chat right before she reached Cynthia’s door.
“That was loads of fun! It sucks that I didn’t make it through, but it was super cool to see what some of the higher years could do. I don’t have the age excuse you guys do, or at least not in terms of practice, so this school must really be good at what it does if it lets them get that strong so quickly. No wonder 85% of the top 100 are prior graduates of this academy!” Katy rolled her eyes, leave it to Roran to be exuberant even after losing. She knocked on Cynthia’s door and was let in by the smiling girl.
“How did you do? I saw you get dragged back by a 3rd year.” So the captured students were just brought back to the starting area? I guess it was to let anyone who wanted to try again, but she doubts many took that chance after failing under much better conditions.
“I had a lot of fun with my fight! My opponent was awesome, her mana control was so precise that she negated all my spells with the exact amount of mana necessary to do it. I’ve never seen a technique like that before! I managed to get a lucky shot in by maxing out my enhancements for a sudden burst of speed, but it didn’t do enough damage to stop her from beating me down right after.” She was a little surprised by how blase he was about the loss, but she supposed that was just how Roran was.
“Yeah that’s about how my fight went too. They didn’t negate my spells though, just tanked through them like they were nothing. I had to use a ton of mana to even leave him with a burn before he knocked me around enough that I fell unconscious.” Yikes perhaps she had underestimated how vast the difference was. It sounded like the older students weren’t even going all out and yet, Roran and Lily both of which were in the top 3 of their year in terms of damage output barely even scratched them.
“I’m really glad I managed not to run into anyone. It sounds like all of the higher years would have torn me apart.” Cynthia was easily the weakest of the group if combat ability was the only thing you looked at, but she wasn’t the weakest first year by any means. She was probably on the lower end of average, but even the most exceptional students combat wise had been clearly outmatched so it wasn’t like her not being able to handle them was because she was weak.
“I don’t think anyone in our year would be able to beat a 3rd year in a fair fight, and I doubt there are more than 5 or 6 of us that could even beat some of the weaker 2nd years. The 2 I fought both went on and on about how they were excited to finally have a chance to win a fight, so I think they are on the low end of 2nd years, and yet both of them gave me a serious run for my money. Honestly the 2nd time I only even won because I got lucky. The ground underneath him broke and he fell.” That was a pretty exciting prospect though. It sounds like the school was a very effective place to improve their skills. She couldn’t wait to get even stronger.