The colosseum walls looked so far away now that I’m sitting in the stands. Atnas hasn’t said a word since the rules were announced. I look to him. His seat and body were vibrating at a rapid pace. I look back. He must be excited.

I look down at the arena, specifically, the forest. I grip my dagger. “I guess I’m avoiding the center. It’s probably where the most competitors would be. From the way he presented things yesterday, this wasn’t going to be like the tournament Atnas thought it would be. I guess he heard we were fighting in the arena and assumed we would be battling tournament style. He must come here a lot…”

Myr: “This fight is the farthest thing from a tournament. It’s a massive battle royale with over 1600 students packed in one (not exactly small) arena. Looking over the arena again, I could understand how they could allow so many competitors at once. It’s large enough to make sure that everyone had at least a few metres to themselves, but small enough to ensure that fighting would break out immediately. If my understanding is correct, we’re probably going to be sent inside the arena using those portals from before. Once that happens, I’ll have seven students around me, vying to see which one of them is the first to knock me out. My priority should be to get away from that type of situation. As soon as the match starts I’ll turn invisible, or turn invisible before the match starts. My illusory magic isn’t the best for combat, but using my trusty dagger or my sword, I’ll be able to easily score two knockouts. I don’t want to stand out. Not here at least. No need to do more than just the minimum.”

Atnas though… I look back at him again. The vibrating seemed to increase, I could feel the air around me shake. He was only getting more excited as time passed. I sighed. He probably wants to start in the first bout. To ‘test his skills or whatnot’.

I lean back, hoping to get some rest. The portal and that massive forest made me dizzy. If I got lucky and I didn’t go in the first round, I’ll be able to observe how the battling would occur. Hopefully it won’t be too hard for my specific style of battle....

---

I jolt as I feel my muscles activate again. My eyes open. Wah..? I look around me. I was in the arena. However, Atnas was missing. I look down, and there, I saw the biggest display of colours I’ve seen in my life. And then… it stopped. I could hear the ripping of space again as I turned around.

Behind me was a massive gate which I hadn’t noticed before. Nestled between the stands, it held a portal in which students were flowing out from, I could see similar gates all around the stadium.

Atnas came out of this one and rushed towards me, almost tumbling down the stairs. “Hey Myr! Did you see me fight? Come on, tell me you did! I was awesome! You look sleepy, did you sleep through the entire first bout?”

I looked down at my hands in shame. I slept through the first round. I look to Atnas. He must’ve seen the realization on my face as he burst out laughing. “HAHAHA, that’s hilarious! I heard you muttering something about watching the first round. Guess that’s not going to work anymore is it?”

Was I talking back then? Wait, that shouldn’t be my concern right now. I turn to Atnas. “Atnas, quickly tell me how the fighting wo-”

Tura: “Alright ladies and gentlemen, that was an exciting first round! We had so many talents here today, and many of them passed! Incredible. No one even tried to kill anyone! That’s what I find impressive. Now we have the second round contestants, please look to your nearest MOF. Magic observing flat, for those of you who don’t know. Remember the ones with my beautiful face on it?”

I look up to the MOF. There, I saw a list of names run quickly across the screen. One of those names was mine. I groaned and Atnas started to laugh harder.

Tura: “If you see your name on the screen, please proceed to your nearest gate. If you are not a competitor, please evacuate the premises. Thank you.”

Myr: “Atnas, quickly tell me, what should I be expec-”

He just zipped his lips and chuckled. I glared at him. He shooed me towards the portal. I glare at him all the way to the portal and I will continue to glare at him after I come back.

The students in front of me are all rushing to be the first one in line. The line itself, barely being held back by two guards I didn’t see up here before. Though, it’s understandable why they would want to go in first. That’s a teleportation gate. We walk in and we’re probably going to be sent somewhere random in the arena. If you go in first, you’ll be the first one in the arena, and you could score an easy knock-out on someone who had just teleported in. Not only that, but the later you enter the arena, the less students will remain. Those that do remain will not only have some experience, but are probably the cream of the crop out of the group.

Despite my overanalyses of the arena, I don’t try and rush and take my spot at the back. Looking around me there were only a few people with mana levels worth considering, everyone else here… well… I don’t think they matter much.

Tura: “Line up now, no pushing! The gates will open soon, so have patience.”

I look up to the magic observing flats. Displayed at the top was a timer and the words, “Top 100” The rest was blank. Top 100? Did they expect 1500 students to get knocked out? I really wish I saw that last fight. I sigh.

???: “It’s no good to look so sad, that makes you a target.”

I turn around to the source of the sound. There, standing directly behind me in line was a girl. Wild, neon, pink hair tied in a ponytail which rested comfortably over her shoulder. Her eyes, a similar shade pink and her clothes loose-fitting, a maybe a little revealing. Despite her flamboyant natural colouring, her clothes were relatively tame. Whites and beiges were the entirety of the palette used to pigment her attire. I was appalled at how revealing it was. Then I realized this was probably a cultural type of clothing, probably somewhere in the deserts.

???: “Hello? Are my clothes really that interesting? Though, you’re already doing better than other guys. They’d much rather stare at what’s underneath. Hahaha.”

Myr: “Does that bother you? People staring at your body?”

She looks at me inquisitively. “What a strange question. Now that I think about it, I don’t mind the attention, I might actually enjoy it. I’m Eanera by the way. What’s yours’s? It’s not often you find someone so… refined. That’s a good way to put it.”

Refined eh? Not exactly. Well maybe, but not for any reason she could think of.

Myr: “I’m Myr. It’s nice to meet you Eanera.”

She smiles. She opens her mouth to talk more, but stops herself as we both hear the announcers voice. I turn my head to face him.

Tura: “Alright folks, everyone should have lined up, and if you don’t get into the gate in time, tough luck! The gates will open in 3…”

The line ahead of me shuffled. I could see Atnas in the distance giving me a thumbs up. I glare at him.

Tura: “2…”

A few students start to push, the crowd starts to move closer to the arena, despite it being empty. I guess the fight is something worth watching then.

Tura: “1…!”

Eanera: “Good luck!”

Tura: “0! Go, go, go!”

The students rush inside the portal, the fragile stability the guards had made quickly crumbled before the sheer determination these kids had to get an advantage over their peers. I could see the guards attempt to calm them before giving up and sitting at some nearby seats and watching the arena.

I was quickly swept along with the current, despite me being at the back of the line… or so I thought. Looking behind me, a huge gathering of students had appeared, and they were suddenly gone as I found myself falling. Then I saw the ground, rapidly approaching. Uh…

I teleport to the ground, breaking my fall instantaneously. What a useful ability that is. Now… where am I? I look around and suddenly see a fireball fly towards my face. I subconsciously teleport away, and turn myself invisible. I crouch by the tree trunk and hope that I don’t get caught up in the waves of screams, yelling and flying magic that was happening all around me.

“FIREBALL!” “AAAAAAA” “NATURE, HEED MY CALL!”

“BLIZZARD!” “aRgH” “PLEASE!”

“GAS FORM!” “GRoucCH” “oof.”

“YOU BASTARD!” “ HOW DARE YOU!””

“WIND SLASH!” “NOOO!”

“HAHAHA!” “TAKE THIS!”

Chaos. That’s all I could hear. I open my eyes now that I no longer feel that oppressive heat right in front of my face. I find myself in the forest. My eyes open wider and I start to sweat profusely. The forest…

“GAAAAAAAH”

The centre of the arena… it had the most amount of students…

Despite me being invisible, many stray spells made their way towards me. I teleport every time I’m about to be hit just on instinct. This isn’t good, I may have a lot of mana, but teleporting at the rate I am, that’s not going to work. Why are there so many loose spells anyway? And why do they keep heading towards me?!?

“THAT’S – THAT’S UNF-“ *BOOOOOOM*

I decide that I should get a better view of the battlefield. I leap from the ground to a large tree branch, and I quickly ascend the leafy outpost. Now that I was at the top and out of that forest, I could feel my breathing slow and my heartrate calm. I properly observe my surroundings this time.

Looking around, I noticed that I wasn’t in the direct middle of the forest. I was actually closer to one of the edges. Good, I should make my way out. The desert biome is nearby… perfect. In the forest, people are too cautious and weary for sneak attacks, which are, my only form of attack. However, in the desert, an open field, no one will expect someone suddenly dropping on them.

I start leaping from treetop to treetop, quickly making my way closer and closer to my goal. It was only then did I notice something odd. The screaming and explosions had stopped. I look back down at the forest, and I saw nothing. No colours flying around, no bodies being tossed up into the air. No singed trees, no frozen ground, no windstorms, nothing.

I drop back into the forest. No one. I quickly run out of the forest. Nothing. No one was here. I look up at the Magic observer flats. It no longer said top 100. It said top 10. My name, my face along with nine others were displayed. A point counter beside each. The highest was 134 points. I was at 0.

Oh no… Wait… how did they get a picture of my face?

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

I turn around suddenly as a huge explosion occurred in the middle of the forest. It was then I heard the sweet sounds of battle once again. Ugh… the damned forest.

I rush back in. If I don’t get into the school, then I don’t get to keep my lazy noble life! I can’t have that!

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

The explosions grew louder, but nothing could beat how hard my heart was pounding. I’m a lazy person by nature and being forced to do this exam is pissing me off, but a strange excitement fills me as well. I guess I’m as battle-crazy as my brothers after all.

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I rush all the way into the middle of the forest, there lay a clearing, and inside, four students were doing battle. The first one I notice was Eanera. Horribly coloured neon-pink flames danced around her body as she shot jets of flame outward. It looked like she was trying to keep her distance and was using her magic as a distancing mechanic. I don’t think anyone wants to touch those pink flames, I wouldn’t want to test it out.

The second student I noticed was kind of laid back. He sat in a nearby tree eating an apple. He had green hair and a robe like me. Was he a druid? Either the three directly in the clearing didn’t know he was there, or they were too busy to deal with him. There was some illusory magic around him, maybe that’s why they didn’t notice him. I found my first knock out. Without wasting time, I teleport up to the tree branch, the branch doesn’t move, nor do I make a sound but the kid dropped his apple, he knew something was wrong. Was that mana sense? Wow, but it was too late. I brought my dagger up to his throat, my invisibility dropped.

He looked at me with surprise, but then he started to chuckle. “Wow, you caught me. I forfeit.”

In the distance I could see a figure emerging. It was a griffon and on it was Tura, the announcer, he barrelled towards the tree and shot off as quickly as he got here. The only thing was, the green boy was gone. I teleport out of the tree before anyone noticed me, allowing my invisibility to return. That was… surprisingly easy?

Maybe I should wait in one of these trees like he did. Oh but that mana sense… I should probably boost my mana mask. Mana sense is a rare ability, I didn’t expect anyone here to be able to use it, but I still put up my mana mask either way. Despite that, someone was able to detect my mana past that… pretty freaky.

I look back up at the MOF. It still said the top ten, however, green boy’s picture was gone. The point counter by my name… 1. Hmm. That’s…

*BOOOOOOOOM*

I look back to the fight. A massive crater that wasn’t there before, suddenly appeared. In the middle was a student. He was tall, and he wore dusty clothing. Large plates of stone covered his vitals and his shoulders. His hands were wrapped in a stream of mana, rocks swirling in the current it formed. That’s a lot of concentrated mana right there.

He leaped backwards as Eanera shot another jet of flame at him.

The last student was interesting to say the least. His clothes were light, and brightly coloured with yellows and whites. He was blinding, and not because it was against my code of honor to look at someone like this. No, this was because his clothes were actually reflecting light in every direction. Or maybe I just got unlucky and a beam of light just happened towards my face. That was occurring a lot. Am I not invisible?

I teleport up to a nearby tree, and decide to watch and wait for an opportunity to attack. Let them exhaust themselves before I attack. Looking at the MOF the timer was ticking down from 46 minutes. Goodness, we each only have an hour but 1600+ students were knocked out before 15 minutes. Maybe that’s standard, but to me, that’s impressive.

Eanera: “Give it up boys. You won’t aren’t getting close to me. Not unless you want to get burned… again.” Eanera dropped her hands to her hips and gave a smirk to the other two students. They didn’t look to happy.

???: “Shut up Eanera. Get cocky and I’ll pound you into dust. Your lucky that this other kid is here, if it wasn’t for him, I would have already…” The rocky boy spoke up. He didn’t yell but his voice was loud either way. I looked up at the MOF. His name was… Trevor? I checked the other student too for good measure. His name… Satir. Have I heard these somewhere before?

Satir: “Look, I’m here to win this too, if you want, I’ll leave and let you two figure this out. I’ll come back later k?” He started to back off as he said that. He was quickly cut off by a jet of flame however.

Eanera: “And what, let us get exhausted so you can come clean up, I don’t think so.”

They stood in that triangle just glaring at each other, every so often, Eanera would shoot a jet of flame. All of them had low mana reserves. It was obvious they were getting tired. Even so… this is getting interesting. I want to see who wins.

I smugly sat in my little branch, I think I’m starting to understand Greeny from before. Rather than waiting for a clean pick, I’m pushed more to just watch what was happening here.

Satir: “Damn. It’s getting late, we should… leave? Yeah? Come on guys!” Satir tried to coax the others into leaving. That’s what it looked like at least. Mana was wrapping around his body, the movement was subtle, controlled but not completely inconspicuous. What was he planning?

I look to the other two, they didn’t notice yet. Eanera spoke up. “Leave…? You know what, that doesn’t sound so bad…” Mana started to gather around her too. Specifically around her hands and feet. Did she actually plan to escape?

Trevor looked at the both of them and growled. Mana very clearly building around his hands and the other two surely noticed. The stones around him started to shake, even the tree I was in threatened to shake me out of its branches due to the tremors. “Leave? LEAVE? I waste so much time on you two and you want to leave? Our duel? I won’t let you. Even if it means losing myself!” Satir and Eanera’s eyes widened as they realized what he was planning, but it was too late.

The earth shook, then a crack formed, then some more, then it widened. Out of nowhere, the earth split. I was too far away to have to worry about it, but those two were clearly in its strike range. Satir looked shocked, Eanera, however, her smirk only grew. The mana she gathered around her feet started to manifest, and flames started to jet out from her, now bare feet. Her form slowly ascended to the sky and she quickly disappeared into the forest.

Trevor growled and tossed a rock in her direction, while Satir turned tail and started to run from the growing hole in the ground. The mana around his body also activating, his body speeding up.

Trevor: “HOW DARE YOU TRY AND RUN! DON’T YOU HAVE HONOUR?” He was already so low on mana, but he continued to use it anyway. Huge chunks of earth started to unearth themselves and fly to where Eanera disappeared into the forest as well as the currently retreating Satir.

While I could faintly sense Eanera’s presence in the area, I couldn’t tell if she was hit. Satir however, he wasn’t so lucky. One of the first chunks of rock come with a few side pebbles. Unfortunately for him, one of those pebbles struck his leg, and he quickly fell to the ground. If it wasn’t for Tura and his Griffon, Satir would have surely been crushed. As Tura flew away, I saw Eanera’s unconscious body hanging from one of the Griffon’s free claws.

Trevor: “Damned weaklings…” Trevor fell to one knee. I suppose now was as good as a time as ever. I teleported up to him and dropped my invisibility. “That was some powerful magic.” I pull my dagger up to his throat. As much as I held this man in respect, I still had to win.

Trevor looked up at me and laughed. “Hahaha, I saw the green vulture circling us, did he fall to you, white crow? I guess it doesn’t matter now. Carrion birds always come for the corpse. I forfeit.” Tura returned, quicker than before.

I looked up at the MOF. Three names had disappeared. Eanera’s, Trevor’s and Satir’s. The amount of points I had increased to two…

So he did manage to hit Eanera. Impressive. I wonder how he knew where she was. Well… I guess I’m done here.

Myr: “I forfeit as well.”

Tura’s griffon kind of slowed down when it reached us, Trevor, too, looked at me strangely.

Tura: “Did I hear you right kid? You forfeit?”

I nod my head. Trevor laughed some more. “A crow that doesn't croak? Funny.” He looked up to the MOF. “A true bird of prey. Take only what you need. I commend you. I will see you again, White Crow.”

Tura looked at me and said “Well, you don’t look injured, and you have quite a bit of mana. Alright. There is a gate directly south of here. Walk in that direction and say that you’ve forfeited. He should let you through.” With that, Tura took off with Trevor in tow.

I looked to the MOF. My name had disappeared. Only three remained. I wasn’t too interested though. I walked in the direction he told me. I ran through the forest, didn’t want to be in here for long. When I remerged, just like he said, there was a large stone gate with a swirling portal. Two guards stood beside it. I guess this is what Atnas walked through when his match timed out. I approached the gate.

The guard looked up at the MOF and back at me. “Did you forfeit?” I nodded my head. He mentioned that I should go through, and go through I did. I was feeling good today, did almost nothing, saw some interesting magic and got a nap.

As I stepped out, I saw Atnas looking up at me from out seats. I walked down the stairs to meet him.

Atnas: “The literal minimum? Couldn’t you have gone for anything better! Invisibility is an amazing ability after all! I’ve never heard of someone who could turn completely invisible!” He looked at me. “Your mana too… I can’t sense any of it. What kind of magic do you have?!”

Atnas, less jealous than I was expecting, was more intrigued by my magic more than anything. It seems like he has mana sense too. There a lot of strong people here, though, I should expect that. It really is the best academy in the world.

Myr: “Illusory. Though, that’s just my most prominent school. I’m absolutely abysmal at Evocation. My element isn’t too prominent. Illusory however, I’m sure no one has as much experience or ability as I do.” Man, would he freak out if he knew I could teleport. That’s an ability I want to keep hidden, especially after I saw his reaction to Gates. That’s why I made sure I always teleported first before dropping my invisibility. I need to make sure its only invisibility they notice.

Atnas looked at me with sparkling eyes. “Wow… most people nowadays are Evokers… this is the first time I’m seeing an illusionist! At least someone who focuses solely on that school! I tried to find you in the arena y’know. I scanned literally everyone, I thought you got knocked out! Now I know why! Invisibility, that’s so cool…”

I chuckled as he continued. It also made me feel bad that I didn’t get to apricate his magic. He didn’t get knocked out, he walked out of the portal. It must have been something impressive.

Tura: “Aaaaand that’s it folks. This round lasted 23 minutes, and we actually have a winner! A potential candidate for the final prize at the end, and maybe the only for today. Ms. Lumious!” I looked up at the screen. There, displayed instead of the normal setup was a zoomed up video of a girl, wearing similarly white robes to mine. I switched my robes back to their black colour. I didn’t want my clothes to match with anyone elses.

Even when looking through the MOF, I could see her mana presence. It was so prominent, it was almost physical. That really is incredible. Probably the most amount of mana I’ve seen in someone. Atnas too looked very impressed.

Her body was unscathed, not a scratch, nor a speck of dust. Not even a bead of sweat. This girl… she may be trouble later.

Tura: “May the final contestants please line up at the nearest gates. The final match will commence in 20 minutes.” Tura flew out of the sky and down somewhere in the arena. I turned back to Atnas.

Atnas: “Did… did you always have black robes?” I laughed. But my eyes were still stuck on that girl.

That amount of mana, who was she?

I have a feeling I’ll find out soon.