Mizua

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  A few hours pass

  Location: Auditorium Foyer

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  Standing in the Foyer, I hear the sounds of chittering and mumbling around me.

  “Yo, Jun. It’s been a hot minute,” says a familiar voice.

  I turn around, seeing Xavier’s smiling face. “Sup, it’s been a while, Xavier,” I say, greeting him. Xavier's looking around the area.

  “There’s more people here than I expected,” says Xavier.

  “There’s really only 100 people here,” I reply. I quickly gnce around the area. I do agree with Xavier though. Putting 100 people into one singur room really does give a whole new meaning to the number 100. Just thinking about the number and comparing it to what I’m seeing right now definitely makes me feel like a speck of dust.

  “I saw that you’re registered with someone named, Luna Laevinus?” Asks Xavier.

  “Yeah,” I say.

  “I gotta say, that’s one fancy surname. It almost sounds like a surname that would be given to royalty or noble,” says Xavier, nonchantly.

  “Aren’t you going up against Sebastian Birch, a noble?” I ask.

  “Huh?” Xavier turns to me with his surprised face. “He’s a noble?” Says Xavier.

  “You didn’t know?” I say.

  “Well, when I met him he just didn’t really radiate a ‘noble’ aura. I thought he was just another city dweller like us. He didn’t bring himself up as being a noble. He was just really chill and rexed. There’s no way someone’s first thought would be to assume that he’s a noble,” replies Xavier.

  “You think you can still beat him?” I ask.

  Xavier looks at me, his eyes radiating confidently. “Even if he’s a noble, that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s better at using magic.”

  He’s right. In this world, humans aren’t born with magic. We don’t have mana flowing through us like the rest of the world. We’re the only race that solely relies on the use of magical crystals and the like. Titles don’t matter when it comes to a magic battle. It may make you more credible and highly sought after, but in the end, it’s all about who’s the better fighter.

  “BOO!”

  Xavier's eyes slightly widen as he turns around. I peer behind Xavier, seeing Noelle’s attempt at making a scary face. A rather cute one too.

  “Did I get ya, Xavier?” Says Noelle.

  Xavier stands quietly in pce for a few seconds before realizing who’s in front of him. “Wait, you’re Noelle?!” Says Xavier, bluntly.

  “Hey, that’s rude,” replies Noelle, her expression discontent.

  “Sorry, you just look so much… how do I say it… different?” Says Xavier as he’s frantically gesturing his arms around in front of him.

  “Really? Did I really change that much in appearance?” Says Noelle.

  This is giving me some déjà vu.

  I step in. “It’s alright Xavier. I had the same thoughts as you the first time I saw Noelle,” I say.

  I look at Noelle as she’s talking with Xavier. Actually, thinking about it. The st time Xavier and I saw Noelle was when all of us were in grade school. I guess it’s just surprising for us to see her all grown up. She probably also feels the same way towards us.

  A short melodic tune pys, interrupting our reunion. The Foyer quiets down.

  A holographic screen dispys itself in the center of the Foyer, multiple screens facing each direction.

  Looking at the screen, I see the combat teacher from the ceremony, Ms. Leopold. Her facial expression is neutral, but her sharp fiery eyes make her look provocative.

  “Good afternoon. I’m sure you all remember me well enough, but to remind those who didn’t pay attention, my name is Andra Leopold. You may call me whatever you want. From today till the end of the assessment test, I will be supervising the first and second phases. I won’t be going into any details here. Once you all step outside of the building, there will be a member of the student council from Magi Prep Academy waiting to guide you all to the battle arena. Follow him. He’ll take you to where you all need to be. I’ll be giving out all the information you’ll need once you reach the arena. For those that didn’t find an opponent in time, don’t worry. The management team already has you paired up with someone else who’s in the same situation as you. Now proceed through the doors and exit the auditorium building,” says Ms. Leopold.

  The holographic screen instantly gets sucked back into the projection crystals installed on the ceiling.

  Everyone inside the Foyer exits the building.

  The cold windy breeze runs through my combat uniform. I look up, seeing the light-gray clouds. The weather today is a bit cloudy. Hopefully it doesn’t rain.

  “Where’s the person at?” Says a random female voice in the crowd.

  “Didn’t Ms. Leopold just said that there would be someone out here waiting for us?” Says a random male voice in the crowd.

  “Did the test already start?” Says a random voice in the crowd.

  The silence earlier slowly disappears as the talking elevates.

  “Quiet down will ya?” Says a deep radio like voice in the far distance.

  The whole crowd abruptly quiets down.

  Looking at the direction of the voice, there’s a tall male student with messy bck hair covering his eyes. He seems to be wearing the official Magi Prep Academy uniform, it has its own unique design. Its own identity compared to our monotone bck colored combat uniforms.

  The way he’s presenting himself. That has to be the student council member. Gncing at Noelle and Xavier, they both realize the same thing.

  Click, cck, click, cck. The student council member is walking towards the crowd and stops a few feet away. “My name is Leon. I’m the student council member that will be guiding you to the battle arena. I won’t be answering any questions or getting friendly, I’m on a time crunch here. Now then, follow me. If you can’t see me, just follow the crowd. I’m sure you all are smart enough to do that,” says Leon. He begins walking ahead of the crowd.

  Being stuck in between the crowd, I follow behind the people in front of me.

  “We’re here,” says Leon as he stops in front of a tall silver cube-like building.

  “Woah, just how far does that reach? It looks like it’s reaching to the skies,” says Noelle as she’s looking up at the silver wall. It seems to span upwards thousands of meters.

  “Y’know, I was kind of expecting for the battle arena to be something like a rge stadium,” says Xavier.

  “That’s pretty old school, Xavier. If we were in the past, maybe that would be the norm,” I say.

  The high pitch sound of a door opening grabs our attention as we all look towards the front of the silver-cube building. Ms. Leopold walks out from inside of the cube-like building with a devious smile on her face. “It’s great to see you Lot in person again,” says Ms. Leopold. She gestures to someone inside of the door.

  “Hm, she’s wearing a military combat uniform?” Says Noelle, noticing Ms. Leopold’s attire.

  “What’s surprising about that?” Questions Xavier.

  “Well, it’s just. You know how at the entrance ceremony she was wearing a messy and unprofessional attire? I thought she was that kind of person. So, I guess it’s just kind of unexpected for me to see her wearing something formal,” replies Noelle.

  “Now that I think about it, yeah, you’re right. Her first impression wasn’t so professional eh,” agrees Xavier.

  They’re chatting a bit too much. “You guys should quiet down,” I say, interrupting their deep discussion.

  Noelle and Xavier simultaneously stop talking and give me an apologetic look. It’s almost like they both share the same two brain cells. I look back to the front.

  “As I’ve said earlier, this is the battle arena that you Lot will be fighting inside of. Now, once you enter, follow the two test assistants. They will guide you to where you Lot will be seated. After you all have been seated, I’ll announce how the first phase works and how the matches will be ordered. Do you all understand?!” Yells Ms. Leopold assertively.

  “Yes ma’am!” Yells the crowd in unison.

  Entering the building, the sounds of frantic footsteps echoes throughout the main entrance.

  This pce seems to be fully made out of marble and silver walls. The only colors here other than silver and white are bck and a light shade of gray. It almost looks like those containment rooms for insane people. However, the unique patterning design on the walls and floors makes the main entrance look like a long lost ancient artifact from the past.

  “It feels like I’m walking into a museum,” says Xavier.

  “What I thought as well,” I say to Xavier.

  Noelle on the other hand is taking in the view of the area.

  All three of us follow along with the crowd going to the test assistant standing on the left side of the divided pathways.

  Interesting. The corridors here are fully made out of silver colored metal. There’s no use of marble here. The light source is also coming from up above and on the sides of the walls. This pce looks like it was crafted to prevent something from escaping or entering.

  “Alright guys we’re almost there, but I’ll tell you some rules that you all need to follow when observing a battle in an arena. First of all, do not peer over the edge of the arena unless you have a death wish. Second, do not interfere with the battle going on inside of the arena. Though, it’s not like any of you freshmen could do that anyways. Lastly, if you’re going to be leaving the seats to go somewhere else, please be mindful of others. Though, that st one isn’t really a rule. Still, follow it regardless,” say the chipper test assistant.

  Arriving at the seating of the arena, I see a massive open space in the center of the stadium. I look up. The ceiling is covered in a pting of ft silver metal, however the bright lights imitate the brightness of the sun’s light rays. I can feel the cold fresh air of the open space enter my nostrils as I breathe.

  “So there was a stadium inside of this cube building, you see that, Jun?” Whispers Xavier in a cocky manner.

  “I guess I was wrong,” I whisper.

  Following the test assistant, we walk along the edges of the stadium. I slightly peer over the edge, seeing how far down the drop is. There’s no sign of nature anywhere on the flooring of the arena. Only a long pin of silver flooring covering the whole ground surface. Gncing at the walls, there’s no sight of an opening or exit.

  It looks like a standard white pin arena. I expected it to be an environmental arena. I guess I set my expectations a bit higher than I should’ve.

  “Alright, you guys can sit anywhere you want. If you want help or assistance, I’ll be over there,” says the chipper test assistant as he’s pointing to a direction.

  The small crowd disperses.

  Xavier, Noelle, and I take a seat in the middle rows.

  “Yikes! These seats are super cold!” Excims Noelle.

  “No kidding, it’s cold in here,” Xavier agrees.

  “You guys sure like talking,” I say to both of them, my face unamused.

  “You really haven’t changed at all, Jun,” reminisces Noelle.

  “Told ya, he hasn’t changed much at all,” says Xavier.

  Both of them were catching up with each other when we were making our way here. I just stood by the sidelines listening in. It’s nice to hear old friends talk to one another, it’s pretty rexing.

  “The fact that I’m still having to baby sit both of you?” I say, trying to be sarcastic.

  “Wait, is that how you view us?” Says Noelle.

  Xavier leans into Noelle’s ear. “I think he’s just being sarcastic…” he whispers.

  “I can hear you,” I say.

  A sudden holographic screen appears in front of us.

  It’s Ms. Leopold. Her arms are crossed.

  “It’s time to begin the first phase of this assessment test!” Says Ms. Leopold enthusiastically.

  Both sides of the arena bleachers instantaneously quiet down.

  “Alright. To begin things off, I’ll be expining how we are going to decide the matches. It’s fairly simple, nothing extravagant. We’ll be going by whoever registered first to the ones that registered st. However!” She pauses for a brief moment, “There’s an exception. For those who volunteered will be prioritized first,” says Ms. Leopold.

  “Volunteer?” Says a random voice in the crowd.

  “They didn’t say anything about this,” says another.

  “What? My partner and I wanted to be the ones to go first!” Says a male student’s voice in the crowd.

  “Silence!” Yells Ms. Leopold. “We never did say that we didn’t allow it. All of you here just weren’t proactive to think of that yourselves. For the ones who asked, they got what they wanted,” her smile showing her sharp canine teeth.

  She is right. There was never a rule mentioned that said volunteering wasn’t allowed. Was this done on purpose? I can only make assumptions.

  “Anyways, getting back on the main topic here. I’ll begin talking about how the first phase will operate. The two combatants will be announced after the end of each match. These two combatants will stay in their seats until a test assistant gets hold of them. They will take you to your own preparation rooms. In these rooms you can do whatever you want until the arena finishes resetting. Once that is done, there will be an announcement to tell you that the arena is ready. At that point, you and your opponent will exit the preparation room and head down the corridor leading out to the arena. However, the match won’t begin until both of you have equipped your magical weapons. Once the arena master has determined that both of you have set up a barrier, they will activate the arena - thus the match begins. Does anybody want me to repeat?” Says Ms. Leopold.

  Silence.

  “Good. As of right now, all of you are wearing the temporary combat uniforms. These uniforms have reinforcement magic, protection magic, and pain negation magic. The uniform is built to make it so the battles with your opponent are genuine. You won’t have to hold back, go as crazy as you want. However, before you enter the arena, a test assistant will give you a device that acts as a health meter. Just based on that name, I’m sure you all understand how it works. For those that don’t, in simplest terms. If the green crystal on the device shatters, you lose. The match will be over. And just for some more countermeasures, once the green crystal shatters, it will immediately teleport you out of the arena to the sidelines,” says Ms. Leopold.

  She pauses for a moment and continues on.

  “As for how we’re going to be measuring your power level. That gets a bit more complicated. For now, I’ll expin it in the simplest terms. During the match, you will be measured based on your magic output and combat ability. These will be calcuted throughout the match in a numerical value. These values will fluctuate throughout the match. To counter that, it’ll take the average value of the lowest and the highest. That will be your final magic output value. Just for reference, the highest magical output you can get during these matches is 500. The lowest is obviously 0. As for combat, that will be judged based solely on your performance. Now, are there any st questions before we begin the assessment test?” Says Ms. Leopold.

  “Does winning count towards anything?” Says a familiar female voice.

  I look over. It’s Ursu. Her white silky hair sways to the side as she stands up from her seat.

  “Good question. It will and will not. Take that answer how you will,” answers Ms. Leopold.

  Ursu sits back down. Looks like she wasn’t satisfied with that answer.

  “Now then. Let the matches commence!” Yells Ms. Leopold.

  The holographic screen disappears. A calming melody pys throughout the arena.

  “Match 1: Mars vs. Rio. Please wait to be escorted,” says a robotic female voice, echoing off the walls of the arena.

  I’m going to be here for a while. If I remember correctly, me and Luna registered as the 26th on the list. I look over to Xavier. His match was the third on the list. At least I have something to look forward to after these two matches are over with.

  “Jun, when are you going?” Asks Noelle to the right of me.

  “My match doesn’t happen until the 25th gets announced,” I reply.

  “Yikes. Well, I guess I shouldn’t be saying that. I’m also going to be sitting here for quite a long time too. Aeliana and I registered 30th on the list yesterday,” says Noelle, her finger on her chin.

  “Well, it’s not like they’re rushing this first phase,” I say.

  “Hm. You’re right. I shouldn’t worry too much about it,” says Noelle as she leans back on her seat.

  The first match is between Mars and Rio. I wonder what their magic is like?