"Good morning, Dear Students." I heard the speaker go off, but the sound was quickly muffled as I realized I was barely able to arrive at time but regardless it was obvious I had made it late due to my panting and heavy breathing "you okay?" A brown haired kid with rectangular glasses put his hand on my left shoulder "Yeah." I replied as I got back up, still panting but I could breathe easier now.
"Attention please." The woman's voice felt targeted at me, with a sort of displeasure teased into it. I looked up and she was looking at me, but the old lady looked away as our eyes met. "Not making a good first impression huh? You can talk to me about anything you want, alright?" I nodded trying to conclude this conversation as quickly as possible so that both him and I don't get on the old lady's bad side.
"Odd hair color, what clan are you from?" I sighed, him trying to make conversations while I tried avoiding it was getting on my nerves but the question he posed was interesting, to say the least. "Clan?" I asked him, trying to satisfy my curiosity, "Oh, you don't know? Well it's complicated. Let's talk about it on lunch break, if they call it that here anyway." I nodded and focused back on the old lady's speech.
"So we have important students coming in here today, each of you come up as your name is mentioned." I was intrigued to see who these so special students were that they needed to be introduced so highly in such an extinguished school.
"Winifred Bonaventure." The first name had been mentioned and a girl around 14 years old stepped up and got on stage, her white silky hair, going below her waist and her formal attire that screamed royalty, and an elegant voice that greeted everyone "Glad to make your acquaintance." The boys were going crazy over her, as if they hadn't seen a single girl like her before in their lives, probably not but I also didn't blame them, but despite her elegant look and voice, I sensed a superiority complex within her, but not like the one that just discriminate against everyone, but not one where she looks down upon people for their birth but measure of their strength.
"Nero Gadiel." A boy with a strong aura stepped on stage, short blueish black hair that matched his outfit. "H-hi." He said nervously, as he scratched the back of his head, despite his aura, he felt rather... Shy. I was surprised, someone who felt as strong as him being shy? No way, I thought to myself looking at him.
"Cloud Angus." Cloud... A name I had heard not too long ago, ah yes, the noble kid who started a fight with Noah over a petty spout, I didn't have a good first impression on him, I don't think many did but oh well, he stepped on the stage, and stood beside Nero, slapping him on his back "Light up." I could barely hear what he said through all the noise made by students cheering. It felt surprising that a seemingly shy person like Nero would be a close friend of a brute like Cloud, or so it seemed like they were close friends anyway.
"Noah Ignis." A really family name had been sounded, my expression changed, the guy who supposedly called me his friend, was a noble. That had me in shock. Even though I didn't know what clans were, the noble families were well known, and the Ignis family was... Well, interesting I guess. Noah's eyes locked with Cloud's as he stepped on the stage, both looking at each with killing intent perhaps, their behavior were definitely not normal for children, but they were nobles so they must've grown up under different circumstances than I.
"And last but not least, Gladius Orville." Going up on stage was a person with slightly long blonde hair, tied back into a ponytail, and a level of confidence unrivaled amongst even the adults here, he looked down at even the nobles, and no one dared raise a finger to him, Amazing, was all I could think looking at him, I felt excited for some reason but I decided to keep it in check.
5 students and all were one of their kind, Noah, an aggressive guy who'd let even small stuff get to him, Cloud, an arrogant noble who thinks only of himself, Nero, a shy yet strong kid with an intimidating aura, Winifred, a sadistic young lady with superiority complex, Gladius, a kid barely older than me with the confidence of a king. All the special students were indeed special, no denying it. Made me excited that I had to compete with these weirdos. Lots of fun awaited me in the future.
"Now that you're introduced to these extraordinary kids, by permission from their family or guardians, they will have a free for all sparring sessions to showcase what they're capable of." Everyone started cheering and shouting praises about one they liked best, most of the boys started cheering for Winifred, and the girls for Gladius, who was obviously annoyed by it, by the look on his face. While Noah and Cloud smirked at each other, getting ready to fight officially now that the permission was given, Nero was nervous and shy even more now than before but they all were ready regardless.
"Alright then, now please follow us to the training grounds." The speaker said, inviting us and them altogether. We started following naturally.
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We entered through the gate that supposedly led to the training grounds, what the view was astonishing, big room, filled with all sorts of things that would be useful in a battle and help you get stronger probably, we were entered through the stairs, whilst the special guys entered through the main gate, naturally through the stairs we arrived at the spectators view point and the others in the middle.
Despite being a school facility, this felt more like a colosseum than a training field.
"Hey!" I heard two familiar voices approach me. I looked around and one was the guy with the glasses and the other was the red haired girl I met earlier today, Arza.
"I'm excited." Said the guy in the glasses, "I'm worried." Arza followed. "I'm with... What's your name?" I asked four eyes, "Oh me? Guess I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Junji but please call me Jun." He said politely.
I reached my hand out to shake his "Alan." We shook hands and our focus shifted back into the sparring session, at least that's what they called it, was about to commence.
A man came up to Winifred and handed her a walking stick with shining crystals embedded in it, perhaps it was a staff but a walking stick is what it looked like to me. It made me think, Winifred did look like she was trying her hardest to walk normally earlier but I had ignored it for some reason.
The rest didn't prepare much, Nero picked up daggers from the table and Noah and Cloud only drank water, while Gladius just stood there without moving an inch, "He's getting on my nerves." I looked to my right and Arza had an annoyed expression on her face "I think he's pretty cool, but that's just me." Jun replied, to which Arza replied with "If you think being cocky is cool then you're a lost cause." Both of them were calm during their conversation while I stood there excited "I wanna fight him." A rush of words came out of my mouth, without even me realizing.
Both of them looked at me silently with a shocked expression on their faces, while I stood there, my eyes locked on the overconfident newcomer who piqued almost everyone's interest.
"Is everyone ready?" The woman spoke, amplifying her voice using some kind of a sol technique. All of the contenders nodded, signaling the woman and the others.
4 men got around the circular arena and placed their hands on the fence, and started pouring Rukh until a barrier came up that reached the ceiling, completely protecting the students outside the arena.
"Begin!" The woman shouted and the battle began.
Starting off, Noah rushed towards Cloud, and so did Cloud, ending in a clash between both of them, Noah's arm covered in bright flames while Cloud used his lightning to boost his speed and imbued his arm with Rukh, making it glow brightly, just showed how on par he was with Noah, despite his elemental disadvantage. Not so surprisingly, the others were just standing still, not doing anything to progress the free for all battle, I could understand Winifred, because of her seemingly leg problem that she wasn't attacking but Nero and Gladius? They were the opposite of each other, in personality especially, which made me wonder if they were gonna do anything at all.
Quickly, my focus shifted back to the fight between Noah and Cloud, they took a step back and prepared to indulge in hand to hand combat, both strengthening their body in one way or another, both smiling hysterically at each other "Let's go, Blondie." I heard Noah say loud enough that Cloud could hear him, "Don't gotta tell me twice, mad dog." Cloud said as he dashed towards Noah, preparing to kick him to the head, however Noah saw it coming and ducked, giving him an opportunity to grab him, and he did, grabbing his defenseless leg, Noah grabbed him by there and threw him to the wall, Cloud braced himself and places his lightning fused legs on the wall right before making contact "Not bad." He smirked right before jumping at lightning speed but this time, he pumped his fist to possibly punch Noah on the face.
No, the fist was most likely a distraction, Cloud was slightly above Noah to even punch him properly, I could only guess but I would probably be wrong.
Cloud had fooled Noah enough that he started guarding his face just as Cloud passed above him, Noah's face turned worried, but giving him no time to think, Cloud grabbed him by his back collar and slammed him to the ground, stopping his flight and also doing amazing damage to Noah.
Everyone awed and the training ground was silenced right after, Arza was especially worried, she had extreme worry on her face and she clenched her fists.
"Hehehehe..." A sound of a laugh was suddenly heard through the silence, Noah got up still laughing while he barely stood up "Not bad... Not bad at all." He wiped the blood coming out of his nose with his thumb with a vicious smile on his face.
"Freak." Cloud smiled back at him, excited, the way they looked at each other could really convince you they were friends, but in fact, they were the opposite.
Meanwhile Cloud and Noah faced off, Winifred made her move, pointing her stick towards Gladius "I'll go with the strongest." I could hear her saying through my Sol amplification that I used on my ears. Quickly, Winifred drew her stick back and slammed its bottom side on the ground, immediately as the stick made contact with the ground, spikes of iron hard looking ice came out of the ground, going straight for Gladius.
Despite the circumstances, Gladius didn't move an inch, he stared at the ice coming towards him with a blank expression, as if he didn't care if it hit him or not.
As he stared at the hard ice approaching him, he was eventually covered by it, he had been completely surrounded by the ice "Yes!" Arza cheered Winifred on from my left for doing that to Gladius "Not yet." I muttered and caught Arza's attention "What do you mean?" She asked in a soft manner. "Look over there." Jun cut in and our focus shifted back to the battle.
"You can come out now." Winifred said as she stepped back a bit and swung her stick to get back into position, bracing herself.
A series of cracks were heard loudly throughout the arena, and all of the ice surrounding Gladius suddenly burst. "Told you." I told Arza looking at her face, she frowned "Whatever, Hmph." She turned her back on us but started looking at the fight again. "We're about to get to the good part." Jun said and I completely agreed with him, with this, perhaps Gladius would start taking real action now.
"Would you like me to crush you now, Princess?"
Gladius lifted his head from the smoke that covered him completely, looking back at Winifred with his usual facial expression.
"I'd like to see you try." She replied as she got completely engulfed by snow, but it didn't last long, the snow surrounding her spread throughout the entire barrier, making it cold inside.
My eyes shifted to the other combatants and the first one I had laid my eyes on was Nero, as shy as he was, he stood there completely unaffected, looking the same as usual.
Then my eyes shifted to Noah and Cloud, Noah had surrounded himself by flames, melting the ice around him "Sucks to be you." He smirked at Cloud ``A little ice isn't going to do me in." He chuckled as he activated his lightning throughout his whole body, accelerating the flow of his blood to make himself warmer and boost his speed through every one of his limbs.
Back to Winifred and Gladius, Winifred took the offensive again by picking out 3 crystal like things that fit between each of her fingers, which she threw at Gladius, it remained small until she raised her staff and swung it, the crystals turned into huge spears sharp enough to pierce through a human's body.
Gladius stood still and waited for them to get close to him and as soon as they were at arm's reach, he picked one of them and struck down the other 3, effortlessly at that "You're gonna have to try better, crippled princess." Winifred looked at him with disgust and annoyance then raised her staff above and summoned a cloud of snow right above Gladius, "You've become annoying, dear old friend." She said right before swinging her staff down, which caused a rain of similar ice spears on Gladius.
He raised his right hand, and prepared something with it. A ball of dark purple energy gathered in the palm of his raised hand. I could feel the intensity from here, even through the barrier. He closed his hand, all the energy went poof and disappeared, and 3 spears were right above his head and shoulders, his fingers moved and then he snapped.
All the ice disintegrated, and shockwaves were sent even through the barrier. I, Arza and Jun and everyone else braced ourselves and tried to stay where we were. Some students were sent back flying to the wall but the teachers had saved them from getting hit.
"I don't have time for this nonsense, let's wrap it up." Gladius said loud enough so the other combatants could hear. "I'll start with you." He looked at Winifred, with the same expressionless face he always had, he dashed towards Winifred at max speed, he was fast, really fast for his age, but Winifred didn't stand around doing nothing, she placed the bottom of her staff on the ground and started growing ice from the ground to sabotage Gladius, which he kept up with, with little to no effort.
He was now extremely close to her, which made Winifred go from the offensive to the defensive, Gladius readied his fist to deliver a blow that would ultimately knock her out or even put her in a critical condition if delivered, but Winifred wasn't just gonna take the hit, she prepared a thick wall of ice right In Front of her, and saved herself as Gladius' fist completely crushed the ice wall she had built just now.
Fear struck Winifred as she witnessed the thick layered wall she had just built was destroyed with no more than a single punch and that the one who effortlessly destroyed that was still approaching her, she stood there, completely frozen as Gladius got closer and closer every millisecond "Goodnight." Gladius said, his fist completely close to the stomach of the scared little girl.
"Stop him!" I heard a noise from the far right, the place where all the teachers were gathered. I turned my head and 3 of them were trying to get through the wall of the barrier "Turn off the barrier!" A male teacher shouted, "On it!" Said the two guys who set up the barrier "We're not gonna make it.' the other teacher said with extreme worry in his voice. The training grounds were tense, everyone was scared of what would happen to the girl.
"If only my legs were fine..." I was able to hear the white haired girl mutter as she was about to face her doom, I prepared myself to try and break the barrier by throwing myself at it but a hand was placed on my left shoulder, stopping me, I looked to my left and it was Jun, who was shocked but still remained calm, he had expected this probably. I looked to my right and Arza was in complete horror, as she was about to watch a girl her own age get... Killed.
Through all the fear and shock everyone was feeling, I decided to focus back on what was about to occur.
Gladius' hand was almost in contact with Winifred, everyone screaming, and before we knew it, a loud sound was made from Gladius' punch, sending shockwaves that shook the arena, leaving everyone completely silent.
As my focus shifted back into the area, Winifred was still standing and Gladius was... Stopped? I was shocked. It was almost certain that no one would've been able to reach there but there stood a dark blue haired guy between Gladius and Winifred. He had caught Gladius punch "Calm down." He said as he stared Gladius dead in the eye while squeezing his hand hard, he immediately twisted it and sent Gladius flying to the wall, which caused him to smash hard into it.
"I won't stand still as you kill a helpless girl, and I'm sure you won't go down that easily either, come out." He said, his expression similar to Gladius' but annoyed and angered as he stood In Front of Winifred, while she looked at him with shock but still with obvious appreciation.
"Hahahahaha!" A series of laughs were ringing through the entire training ground, and as the smoke of dust cleared, there stood Gladius, cleaning the dust off his white attire. He glared at Nero and a grin shot up his face.
"It seems this won't be a waste of time after all, with you around at least."
Everyone's attention was on them, as they glared at each other, I could feel the killing intent coming from both of them, which made me uncomfortable, and so the phase 2 of the battle began.