“Oh right. I did that, didn’t I?” Carmine asked no one but herself. Her steeled confidence deflated away into mild embarrassment. An embarrassment that caused her face to take a soft, pinkened hue.
“Yeah… you did.” I answered for her with crossed arms. “But I would say yes either way—I didn’t just get given a chance to live to go and take the easy path. If I’m going to live, I’m going to make sure I live how I want to.” I spoke with determination behind my words, bringing Carmine back to a dull grin.
“Alright then. Let's start with putting you through the trials that the other five competitors have to go through to enter the Skyliner Festival,” Carmine turned on her heels, stepping out to the edge of the ring. “Your first goal is simple, come with me.”
Carmine continued walking away, heading towards the school—I remained standing firmly rooted in place, blinking several times before I sighed and jogged to catch up with her.
Akemi gave an annoyed yip as she stood up, running alongside me to keep up with Carmine’s casual pace.
“Where are we going?” I asked worriedly once I caught up to Carmine.
“To a sublevel underneath the school, it has what you’ll be practicing against.” Carmine answered cryptically. And despite my prodding for further answers she refused to give them to me, instead insisting that I just wait to see what she was going on about.
Once she reached the back end of the school she paused, twisting her hand palm up an object appeared within her grip. It appeared like a talisman of sorts, dozens of crystals sat inlaid within its beveled edges surrounding a thoroughly designed outline of a staircase.
I could feel the mana exuding from the talisman as she reached forwards with it. The tendrils of power reached out, gripping invisible markings underneath the grass. The soil pulled itself apart, rolling away with careless ease until it settled, revealing a dimly lit staircase spiraling downwards underneath the school.
“Why is this hidden?...” I asked, my tone once more filled with worry.
“So that students don’t kill themselves trying to train down here without supervision.” Carmine stated flatly, leaving me to gulp back my worries.
Akemi gave an uneasy whimper, moving closer to my legs until I bent down to pick her up. Raising her up she found her purchase on my shoulders once more, settling in a position that allowed her to watch the stairs.
“Come on.” Carmine requested as she moved forwards, beginning down the stairs.I waited for several moments, giving her a chance to get slightly ahead of me before I started down the stairs behind her.
I could hear the wet echo of my boots pressing against the carved stone stairs spiraling downwards. Inlaid into the central support pillar were dozens of colorful gems, dimly illuminating the path before me with barely enough light to see the next step at any given moment.
Carmine continued to walk ahead with careless confidence as her guide. I however was left behind, unsure of every step I took on the narrow stone staircase. I was far too worried that I would fall and hurt myself, or worse yet end up hurting Akemi.
After what felt like hours of descending down the stairs I finally turned around the last of the endless spirals. Taking the final step down I turned my gaze around, taking in the massive room I was now inside.
The walls were all made of an ornate, polished wood with white stone beams every dozen paces to support the bare stone ceiling. Bright white stones sat inlaid within the tops of the pillars, casting hatefully bright lights to illuminate the grand room.
The floor of the room was almost as barren as the ceiling, only a single pedestal sat at the forefront of a red line painted into the stone ground. Beyond the red line I saw countless craters and dents, scratches and marks that looked decades old in some cases. Carmine stood next to the podium with her arms crossed.
“What is this place?” I asked as I walked over to her. My voice echoed through the room, bouncing back to my ears dozens of times before falling silent.
“One of many valuable places for training within the school. And, it is where you are going to be undergoing your first trial,” Carmine answered cryptically as she turned to face the podium. Her hand moved forwards, placing itself upon a sphere embedded within the pedestal. “Every student who competes in the Skyliner Festival must complete this trial—Other than those we choose to represent us, as your ‘private’ teachers we’re expected to pull you up and beyond those standards.”
Mana rushed out from Carmine’s body in a single, powerful burst. I felt wind blasting away from the pedestal, rushing at me and blowing my hair wildly. Akemi gave a complaining yip, jumping off of my shoulder as soon as the furious winds halted.
I couldn’t however focus on the Kitsune for long—My eyes locked straight ahead as the ground began to move around, mana congealing together just beyond the red line. Pieces of rock and air pulled themselves together around a furious core of pure mana, hardening into limbs and joints until it took the vague shape of a person.
The… thing stood at about my height. its arms were unnaturally long, reaching almost to its knees. Its legs were stubby while its torso was flat and wide. Sitting between its shoulders was a round rock that made up its featureless face.
Yet, despite the lack of eyes, mouth, or anything to define its face—I could tell it was looking directly at me. I could feel malice oozing off of it, a beastial intent to kill and give into its most basic instincts that filled the air around the room.
“What… is that?” I asked, fear stinging my words.
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“That is an Elemental. Specifically, this Elemental is near its ascension into ‘Storm’ class,” Carmine explained as her gaze turned towards me. “And your first trial is to kill it, any means necessary if it comes down to it.”
My jaw fell loose as I looked between Carmine and the Elemental. I could feel the raw mana pulsating through the air from the Elemental—Even if I unleashed every last drop of mana inside of my body, I would have maybe come close to a third of the mana the Elemental was simply exuding.
“How?…” I finally forced my jaw to work, forcing the words I felt deep inside out.
“That’s for you to find out. Now get in there and try.” Carmine somehow sounded confident in me. Her words gave me enough reassurance to at least try… even if I thought it was suicide.
I turned my gaze to my hand, glancing at the ring sitting on my index finger. I didn’t even have a weapon to fight with—The closest thing I had to one was the rusting pot we had used to heat up rations after leaving Helina.
I balled my hand into a fist slowly, dread was rushing through my body already. But the expectant gaze of Carmine remained steadfast upon me, I wasn’t getting out of this fight without trying, I could tell that much.
“Alright…” I let out a heavy sigh, relenting to Carmine’s wishes as I began forward. The rounded rock that made the Elemental’s head turned, grinding against itself to watch me as I approached it. Its body however refused to move, staying steadfast and still as it refused to move until I stepped beyond the precipice of the red line.
The instant I set my foot down beyond the red line the Golem let out a furious groan. It was like stone scraping against stone, screaming and echoing in a deafening cacophony. It shifted forwards, its abnormally long arms acting like a secondary set of legs as it ran straight at me on all four of its stony limbs.
My eyes went wide—It was fast, far faster than I expected from a beast made out of literal stone. It was closing the distance at such a pace that I had only a handful of seconds to think, or to even make an attempt at preparing myself for its impact.
My arms raised reflexively, mana blasting out of my body in a desperate attempt to form some kind of protection. A single stone fist raised up, shifting backwards before it launched forwards like an arrow.
I kicked my other leg out, throwing myself further into the Elemental’s territory to avoid its strike. The whistling stone fist came to a crunching halt as rock was stretched out of place, deforming and disfiguring its abnormally shaped body for a solemn moment before it snapped back together.
It turned back towards me once again, its gaze filled with such absolute hate that I could have sworn this beast was intelligent too—Even if I could tell otherwise, its primal emotions were so raw and real that intelligence no longer mattered.
The Elemental turned on the spot, its other arm swinging wildly like a whip as the stones began to shift and elongate. Its stony roar left my ears ringing while the air itself vibrated with the energy of its echoing screams.
I pushed back on my arms and legs, falling even further onto my rear as the whip of stone slammed into the ground at my feet. It carved a chunk out of the floor nearly as deep as my shin and as wide as my entire body was tall.
I kicked myself backwards as quickly as I physically could, scrambling to get any purchase as I shakily dragged myself back to my feet. The Elemental continued forwards, each stomping step sending the ground shaking until it began another full blown charge.
I shakily raised my hand while backing away as quickly as I could—The Elemental was far faster than me, I just had to hope I could charge my mana fast enough. I felt the energy forming in the palm of my hand, congealing and spiraling into a dense sphere as the Elemental raised both arms high above its head.
I released the compressed burst of mana, aimed precisely at the Elemental’s forehead. It was as much mana as I had ever managed to charge into it, my palm was burning painfully from just trying to hold it out—And it did nothing.
There was only a faint charred mark on the Elementals head, while its arms began to slam down with an unfathomable speed. I flinched back, raising my arms as I closed my eyes, expecting pain.
But pain wasn’t what greeted me, only absolute silence as I opened my eyes to an all consuming blackness that covered my entire world. I didn’t feel any pain, but I couldn’t feel the ground either. It was as if everything just stopped in an instant, all I could feel with the faint pounding of my heart telling me that I was still alive—And a new, overwhelming sense of raw mana.
“That’s enough of that for now,” Carmine’s voice broke through the darkness, walls of piercing crescent lights cutting through it with ease. “Are you alright?”
My eyes went wide once I realized what happened. Carmine stood before me, mana pouring off of her in such intense waves that it looked almost like steam. I saw the shards of rock that were once the Elemental falling to the ground, splitting apart into decaying fragments of ash and dust from a single strike of her ornate blade.
I didn’t have a chance to take in much of her blade as it disappeared before my eyes. A faintly familiar sense of magic covering the blade told me that Carmine had her own spacial-something on her body.
“I… think so?...” I finally answered without any confidence in my words. I looked down, patting my body down—I couldn’t believe that I had just been through that and not been hurt at all. “How?...” I asked, looking up at her.
“You really like asking that question, don’t you?” Carmine mused, a smile cracking across her lips. “And as to ‘how’ I did that? It’s simple. I’m me, and you’re you. But you still have a lot more room for improvement than I do.” She answered without her grin wavering for a moment.
“How long did it take you to reach that point?” My curiosity peaked, I wanted to know more about Carmine.
“How is she so strong?...” I thought to myself, awaiting her answer.
“Mmm… My entire life,” Carmine answered honestly as her gaze softened. “But, in a few months you’ve progressed more than I did in my first eight years using magic. And all without actual training! I think you’ll be amazing some day, but for today?” Carmine paused, placing a hand on my head to ruffle my hair once again. “Go and get some rest. We’ll practice more practical things tomorrow. But you’ve got your first goal now too.”
“Thank you.” I let out an exhausted sigh—I wasn’t even sure what time it was, but I felt exhausted. Between Levi’s training this morning and the amount of information I had thrust upon me during my classes, I was utterly exhausted.
Carmine gave a soft nod, turning her gaze over the arena as I began back towards the stairs. Akemi ran along, catching up with me—She looked worried as she met my gaze, but I gave her a reassuring smile.
“I’m fine, don’t worry.” Akemi let out a small huff at my words, but turned her gaze forwards as well. Together we made our way up and out of the underground level and back to my and Tulip’s dorm.