"After arriving at the destination, one may feel nauseous if this is your first time teleporting such a large distance. If that is the case, please proceed to your left, as there are disposable bags should your need for one arise. Welcome to the United Academy for Talented Youth (U.A.T.Y) 1st response tower. This will be where you will be studying, living, and training for the next three years." The robotic voice of a woman chimed overhead as the students arrived, several grabbing for the aforementioned bags.
"I still can't believe that it was either this or enlisting straight away. They didn't even let me go to one of the other academies. All that BS about 'Oh, due to the merits your parents earned in the war, we can't just let you go to ANY Academy, it has to be one of the top ones.' They just wanted to look over me since I used the Bloodline Crystal my family had rather than sell it." Ragna grumbled to himself as he walked towards the assembly area. Running his hand through his hair, "I wish it would just go back to what it used to be, its rather annoying to stand out like this." Ragna's hair was originally pitch black, seeming to draw in all light around it. Now, due to the awakening of his bloodline, it had bright red streaks in it, and the black seemed even darker somehow.
Stopping near the back of the auditorium, Ragna watched as the Principal began his speech, "Now that all of us are here, I would like to say welcome to our new students. I would first like to present each of you with a badge you must wear at all times outside of your dorm while attending this Academy." With a clap of his hands, a badge appeared in front of each new student. Grabbing them and putting them on, they were informed to open their status so that the badges could sync with them. As Ragna clipped his badge onto his white academy uniform, he opened his status and sighed, 'I am in no way even close to the same level as even the weakest students in here. Most here are already Tier 1 while I need six more levels before I can even consider Tiering up.'
"Now that each of you has a badge, I will tell you that we only permit fighting in the academy through a formal duel. These duels can be issued through the badges which can be accessed through your status. The badges will also determine when and how a duel has ended. Should a fight continue past the duels end, an instructor or other authorized personnel will be warped to the location and will dish out penalties to those who committed this offense." The Principal's gaze swept across the auditorium. "I would also like to advise against picking fights with people without knowing who you are offending. We have some people in this room who are notable not just in their ability, but also their standing. While we can guarantee that no harm shall come from outside families while in this Academy, we cannot give this same guarantee outside of the Academy. Take in mind who you are studying with, that is all."
Turning, the Principal then left the stage, being replaced by a man whose uniform identified him as a head instructor. "As Principal Angelo stated, please take care with who you are studying with. Now, if you check your status, you will now see a new category that was provided by the badges you have. These badges will identify you as a student of this Academy as well as allow you to access the school's specific MIS. The Magical Interface Store, or MIS for short will allow you to use points to purchase different things in exchange for the points that you will earn here at the academy. Each point converts into roughly 1000 credits, or thanks to a deal made with the Lan-Yin clan, 1 Unclassified Tier 0 experience point. Each of you have been credited 50 points for admittance, and if you are within the top 200 of your class, you get a bonus 25 points while the top 10 get their own bonuses."
After another half hour of explanations, Ragna and the rest of the students began filing out of the auditorium. 'This might not be as bad as I thought. If I make use of the Academy's system, then I can probably get a head start on finding out what happened to my family, and why there has been less than an investigation.' As he was thinking this, he bumped into someone. "Hey, who the hell do you think you are?" The red haired boy turned, grabbing Ragna by the collar.
"Ragna Asmodeus, who are you?" Ragna looked down at the shorter boy.
"I'm Ezio Flareburst you incompetent! Now get down and beg for mercy before I burn you to a crisp!" Ezio growled in Ragna's face.
"Get out of my face you dog, if you can bark so loud then lets see how your bite is! I challenge you to a duel, loser hands over their points." Ragna taunted Ezio. 'From what I sense, he is just barely Tier 1. He must be a disgrace to the entire Flareburst family if he is this weak. I can beat him as long as I play my cards right.'
Letting go of Ragna, Ezio took a few steps back before he pulled up his status and sent the duel request to Ragna. "Since you want to get your ass beat so bad, then I'll oblige." As Ragna accepted the duel, a barrier was projected around them to keep attacks from harming others. Within the 35 meters the barrier encompassed, Ezio and Ragna each stood at one end.
When the barrier was set, a countdown started before the both of them charged each other. Being a bit faster, Ezio had the edge, until he realized that each punch he threw was being deflected the slightest bit each time. While Ragna's punches weren't nearly as strong as Ezio's he was landing over double the amount as Ezio was not very proficient at blocking or dodging.
Jumping away from Ragna, Ezio sighed, "Fine, I guess you have earned this!" Punching his hands together, they were coated in a bright orange flame. "Let's see how your fancy blocking and dodging handle this!"
As he charged at Ragna, Ragna realized this was quite bad. 'I'm weaker than him AND he has his family's ability. Although it looks weaker than normal, those flames are still going to cause a problem.' Looking around, Ragna saw that a large group of students were watching the fight. Cursing his luck, Ragna got ready to end the duel.
When Ragna and Ezio met, Ragna was pressed hard to dodge all of the attacks as blocking was no longer an option. Still, even the mostly dodged punches caused damage as the flames licked at Ragna, causing slight burns. Every so often, Ragna threw a punch of his own, but he was mostly focused on dodging. As Ragna was backing away from Ezio, he slipped and took a direct punch which launched him halfway across the duel area. Gasps left the mouths of the spectators as they thought the duel was surely over. Even Ezio turned to flex for the crowd but suddenly someone shouted, "Look out Ezio!" Turning, all he saw was beam of black energy blasting straight at him faster than he could react.
As Ragna was sent flying, he concentrated hard through the pain. 'I didn't want to use this here, but I might as well test out this ability sometime.' Once everyone's eyes were off him, he jumped straight up, and having already passed the charging time, released his Dragon's Breath straight at Ezio. Right before it hit him though, it was deflected straight into the barrier. Standing in front of Ezio was a young man with a red star on his uniform.
"Now, don't you think that was a little much?" The young man gestured at Ragna, "If that hit, even with the school's protections, he likely would have been crippled, at least temporarily."
"Then he would have gotten what's coming to him for being as rude as he was to me." Ragna crossed his arms and grunted at his stolen victory. 'I don't have the energy to deal with another fool, that Dragon's Breath drained all the Magic Power I had along with most of my Aura.'
Suddenly, as he was thinking this, the red starred young man was right in front of him. "Sorry, but as Student Council President, I can't allow that kind of mindset. If you apologize for saying that right now then I'll let you go, but otherwise you will be punished for inappropriate conduct."
Flinching back, Ragna got the notification that Ezio had forfeited as he saw him being escorted away. "To be frank Prez, I couldn't care less about your opinion, so could you please just bug off, I have places to be before curfew." Ragna began to turn before he sensed the area right around him being disturbed. Turning to the President, he saw the wide smile on the President's face was barely concealing his rage, the air around him charging from the pressure of the energy he was giving off. 'First Order!' Ragna's eyes went wide as he recognized the magnitude of power the Student Body President possessed.
"Then I declare it here, until further notice, no student of the Academy should provide support to Ragna Asmodeus unless directly ordered to! He is to remain alone in this Academy since he wishes not to be bothered with anyone here." After he said this, the President brought his hand back and slammed it into Ragna's chest. When the punch landed, everyone heard the several cracks signifying the breaking of bones before Ragna was launched straight back into the wall of the auditorium.
Yet, just as the President stated, not a single person moved to help Ragna who lay there motionless.
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