Chapter 4: Preparation
"Flame Art: Flint Spark!"
Soma snapped his fingers with his right hand, which materialized three small flaming daggers.
"Whoah!" he stammered, dodging the projectiles. He reached for a small sack on his belt and pulled out a small Ether crystal. He then reeled his index finger back, thunder sparks emitting from his palms, and flicked the crystal with immense force.
The Crystal sped towards Soma, only barely scratching him as he stumbled back.
Soma promptly got back on his feet. "Flint-" he prepared to snap his fingers once again but his left hand were struck by a crystal shard. He winced and looked up only to see a hail of shards. He fell flat on his back, bruised by the barrage
"I guess we can call it quits for now" Hyas said, exhausted.
"...Yeah" Soma huffed, showing fatigue.
As the two walked out, they felt a chill in the air, where Apollyon and Klaus stood at a stalemate on opposite ends of another area. Soma could feel the intensity from watching them locked eyes, both fatigued from their fight. On Apollyon's side, there were ice spikes and spires that pierced the ground, whereas on Klaus' end, there were dents and small black marks in the ground. Apollyon held something on the other side of his hip, where Klaus held a seemingly normal violin.
"What happened to those two?!" Soma said, surprised.
"Beats me" Hyas replied, aghast from the scene..
Lyra and Hana were in another area; both ladies had parts of their tracksuits scratched due to them wielding wooden blades. They grasped their blades, ready to keep fighting.
"Let's see who's the more talented noble" Hana grinned.
"I won't let my family down by messing up against someone like you" Lyra said as she charged for her.
"Quixotic Techniques: Isonade!" Hana's legs started to glow green and she sped towards Lyra, where she responded with: "Justice Form: Blind Retribution!"
Lyra broke Hana's offensive maneuver only to be met with another attack. As the two clashed, the wooden swords snapped and both ladies fell flat on the ground.
"Owww" Hana said, pained by her fall.
Lyra got up reached out her hand where she gave her a grin.
"That was impressive, Hana" she said to the girl on the ground.
"Thanks, but you should give credit to yourself too" Hana chuckled.
"I swear, the rich always stick with the rich" Hyas said with a cocky attitude. much to his dismay, both female students heard and struck him with an icy glare. "What was that?" their voices met in unison
Hyas hid behind Soma, scared for his life.
"S-Soma you're gonna help me out right?!"
Soma stood there with a blank expression, whose only response was "Oh what Hyas? I need to still work on my spells." in a slurred and laid back expression.
"SOMA YOU SELLOUT-"
"ALRIGHT EVERYONE!! GATHER AROUND ME!!" Professor Argo said as she stood on a platform with a hologram projector in front of her.
The students gathered around the golden plated professor, ready to listen to whatever she was going to say.
"As you know, tomorrow is the in class tournament. It will be a one on one tournament consisting of this class. You will be proctored by three Professors, where I will oversee the whole event." She said.
"The tournament will be held in The Grid, where the spectators will stay there in the bleachers, watching the fight from the projector and the screens."
The projector displayed a massive area with a neutral ground, with a square area laid down with concrete tiles.
"Those going to fight will be teleported automatically to the arena, so do not worry about getting in."
Professor Argo demonstrated this by pulling out an apple from her coat, where she threw it into the air and it appeared to disperse into digital code. The apple then appeared in the arena, unscathed.
"The tournament has very simple rules to abide by:
-Any combatants not able to battle are eliminated. This means if the person is immobilized, unconscious, or simply defeated counts.
-You fight in the square arena, anyone who steps both feet away from the arena will be disqualified.
-Use of weapons are allowed, as long as they do not kill the students.
-And lastly, have fun! Though this determines your ranking, you are to fight each other fairly and know your classmates more!!
Prepare for the tournament tomorrow by sleeping early, train a bit more hours and make sure you get here early! You are able to use your combat attire instead of the tracksuits. Remember, those that gain high scores in this tournament could be eligible to be part of the Meridian Squadron in your third year! You might be recommended to even take three star missions!" She finished.
"Do I make myself clear?!!"
"YES MA'AM!!!" All the students shouted in unison.
"Class Dismissed!!!
Hours pass after the class; Soma, Lyra, and Hyas stood in the cafeteria, who were eating their dinner. The cafeteria was a massive area with windows in the ceiling, lined with gears along the walls. The food was self served with trays off to the side and a machine that scanned cards. There was also a machine labeled 'ATM' near the scanner, equipped with its own scanner.
"No hard feelings tomorrow, you two?" Soma said to Lyra and Hyas.
"There wouldn't be, since I'll beat both of you tomorrow!" Hyas said, with pure cockiness.
"I don't know about you, but I will represent the Yama clan with elegance and finesse." Lyra gracefully proclaimed.
"Okay Bipolar Empress." Hyas mocked. Soma laughed along with the remark.
"Hmmmm, I don't think I feel satisfied fighting Hana earlier, maybe I should use you as a training dummy" Lyra said maliciously, where her victim felt absolute fear as she materialized a black blade out of thin air.
"O-O-Okay i'm sorry i'm sorry"
"As for tomorrow, I'll root for you Soma" Lyra said with a change of demeanor.
"R-Right" Soma said with a fearful chuckle.
As everyone headed for bed later that day, Soma was at his desk once again. He scratched his head, pondered about what weapon to create for the next day.
"Hmm, I wonder what to do aside from my project?" Soma wondered.
He raised his glove on his left hand and carefully looked at it, he also grasped at his right hand with care.
"That day was bad for my right arm, I can't believe Vega and Saiph had to see me so.."
He shook his head and slapped both sides of his face with both hands. He took a look at his glove once more, where his eyes lit up with anticipation.
Soma got to work and pulled out a blueprint from the stack of rolled up papers.The blueprint in particular was an image of a metallic crow. Soma worked at his desk for quite some time, but he finished and put the finished products on his desk.
The next day had begun, the class gathered in the same place the day prior. As everyone was ordered to wear their combat attire, nobody wore their usual uniforms and wore different sets of clothes.
Lyra still retained her ponytail but this time she wore a green haori laced with white. There was also an emblem of a weighing scale held by a blindfolded woman on the back. Below it, she wore a white kimono where it faded to black as it reached the end.
Hyas on the other hand, in contrast to Lyra's imperial getup, wore jeans with a blue vest and azure colored plating below it. The plating had small sized crystals conveniently embedded, which periodically emitted sparks of electricity. He also wore a pouch on his hip, filled with dim lit crystals.
Soma was in the locker room and unpacked his combat clothes and started changing. After some time, he emerged wearing a lime green t-shirt, under a dim gray hoodie similar to what he wore in his childhood days. There was a noticeable plating along the hoodie however, they had a copper tint in appearance. On the back was a print of a three legged black bird outlined with orange, with similar strokes to that of the flames the Grandmaster Simurgh had on his kimono. His pants took an indigo color, where along the belt buckle, were flasks that held red liquids. The most notable of his appearance was a red crystal that glowed bright orange. It was surrounded by metallic plating behind it, which appeared to circulate energy.
When he gazed upon the rest of the class, everyone in the room wore different styles of clothing. Hana, who was with Apollyon and Lopa, Hana wore a pink gi with white plating all around her upper torso, her arms and her legs, where she also wore an azure blue short skirt. On the back of her gi, was an imprint of a feudal warlord, with crossed swords. She held a katana on her right hand, which looked heavy despite its size. Her whole outfit is lined with violet and had a beige trim.
Lopa on the other hand, wore a double layered robe with fluffy fur and seemingly high quality fabric. The top layer was white while the bottom layer was dark blue. She also wore a black belt, where below that, the white splits, revealing the blue layer. Her robes were ornamented slightly with gold, wearing a large coin on her back with a triskelion pattern on it with a crest above her breast. Golden clips connect her robes with puffy sleeves with the top portion of the sleeves with the tailcoat of the robes having a bright indigo-white stripe pattern through the center of each clothing article, vertical for the tailcoat and horizontal for the puffy sleeves.
Apollyon wore a dark leather jacket with full sleeves, but cut off halfway down the torso. There was dark fluffy fur on the inside and had a symbol of a hooded skull on the back. He also wore a purple shirt with some gray stripes and black jeans. He donned the masks of comedy and tragedy on his left side. On his right side, there was a holster that housed a firearm. It appeared dark steel but had constantly changing tints coming from the magazine.
Soma caught glimpses of the rest of his class. Klaus wore a full black suit and carried around a violin. His snow white skin shone with elegance and his black hair neatly brushed. He also wore earrings in the shape of treble clefs. Calder wore a long dark blue parca, with hands in his pockets. Calder's right eye was still hidden in his blue hair. There was also green plating on his back, which resembled a turtle shell. Isla, who spoke with Calder wore a hoodie that had liquid-like prints along the edges. She also wore certain soft looking material on her fingertips, connected to a central blue light on her palm. Isla also wore slightly above knee length puffy shorts, with knee length navy blue stockings accented with neon green.
There was also another group of three, who let out an aura of delinquency. Two males of similar heights, where one wore a brown hoodie and cargo pants, with leaf designs in the lower portion. The other male student wore a full black hoodie with python designs going along his arms, where his pants had snake prints that started from the hips. This student's notable features were three small dots below his right eye that formed a triangle. The third student was a female who wore a pinkish hoodie and ripped pants with the same print. She had messy and spiky maroon hair who held a sickle in one hand and seemed to hold a crystal on the other hand.
A student who wore a red trench coat sat near the back of the bleachers, he had spiky red hair swept to his right. He had red pants that were accented with orange. He was smoking a cigarette he lit using his index finger, which Professor Argo immediately noticed and by a flick of a finger, the cigarette disintegrated.
Near that red student was a boy who wore a long black cloak with a top hat where along it were playing cards. The cloak covered his whole body where he just stood there, looking onward towards the whole class. His eyes were covered by a mask, which looked like it was straight out of a masquerade.
"That makes about fifteen of you… perfect!" Professor Argo said, who stood in front of the whole class.
"Now.."
She inhaled and then spoke again.
"You will begin your first examination, the Class Wide Tournament! Depending on how you perform in this tournament is how you will be scored. Note: Losing a match will make you lose out on points, the further you go in the tournament provides you a higher chance in participating in the Meridian Squadron."
"The Meridian Squadron.." Soma thought to himself.
"As you heard from the other day, the tournament setting is a one on one scenario. You will fight with the dueling rules set by law. In case you do not know about the dueling laws, you fight until the other mage is unable to fight, they are sent out of the square field, or the combatant says 'Concede'!"
She took a pause and kept going:
"As you know, there are fifteen of you, which means a one on one tournament will be nonoptimal. So we will hold a 3 person final round, it will have the same rules as a one on one and the last person standing is the winner. Depending on the circumstances, judges will decide who would be second and third place. Do you have any questions?"
Hyas raised his hand, in which Professor Argo responded with "Yes, Tempesto?"
"I'm not sure if anyone else in the class noticed. But ma'am, did you say fifteen of us?" Hyas asked politely.
The rest of the class immediately began to chatter about the topic, in which they were all confused.
"I am glad you noticed that, Mister Tempesto. I was actually going to talk about that." Professor Argo began
"Late into enrollment, you have a new classmate."
The door in the gym suddenly opened and a tall blonde haired male entered. He was very stiff, and walked in with his hair hiding his eyes as he looked down. Class Theta looked intrigued, shocked and to others, shivered.
"Their name is Alva Kyros, from the Marionette Faction"
"Ohhhh wait, i've heard of them. They're a mysterious puppet master who won in a regional puppet tournament in the Kingdom of Mare, I've watched them before." Isla said enthusiastically.
"Is there ever a person that's not some celebrity, hotshot, lucky guy, or rich? I mean that's our class right now" Hyas said sarcastically.
"Nice…." Alva said, barely anyone heard them.
"Huh" the class said in sync.
"Nice...To meet you.." Alva said, monotonously.
"Nice to meet you I guess" Hyas said, who held out his hand to shake it but Alva merely looked at it and did not shake hands.
Soma on the other hand, observed Alva intently. Alva responded by looking at Soma, where he looked away.
"Now that you all got acquainted with your new friend, we shall begin the tournament." Professor Argo said through the intercom.
The class went back into formation and lined up next to each other on the bleachers.
"Alright, time to begin my debut as a mage" Soma thought to himself.
"Our first match will be... "
A holographic screen displayed two portraits of the students and rotated twice a second and gradually slowed down. As they observed intently at the holographic screen, some had drips of sweat that trickled down their foreheads. Soma closed his eyes, to anticipate who it would be, but then only started to hope that he would make it far. The moment it stopped, some were shocked, others were in awe.
As Soma opened his eyes, the portraits of the first round displayed right on the screen.
"Calypso Lot and Klaus Cadenza!!"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone