Emylia suddenly stood in front of Relenah, "This is no way a fourth year should act towards a junior. You all know that the school system is fair and judges based on strength. Even if she's a first year, she's still the strongest among the water elementals!" she cried out, attracting the attention of surrounding students.
Relenah stiffened when she felt stares coming from all directions. She could hear murmurs and whispers all around her but there were too many and she only heard snippets.
"Did you hear that? She's a first year?!"
"I thought she was just small for her age; I didn't think she was actually a first year."
"How did she become an S level? Did she duel the fifth years already? How brazen!"
Relenah clenched her hands into fists and tried her best not to run away in fear. Her mother taught her that showing fear, especially for an elementalist, was a low blow. Taking a deep breath, Relenah tried to calm down the fear welling up in her chest.
She never stepped foot outside of her little world, filled with trees and her family's cabin. Her only human interaction was with her family members. She looked up and was greeted with Emylia's back.
Looking at the back that had cinders all over it, Relenah suddenly felt all her fear disappear. That's right. She is an elementalist now. Even if she was only in training, her aim was to become a strong elementalist.
Relenah straightened her back and calmly walked around Emylia. "I know I'm new here, and you might feel disappointed with the fact that I'm in S class as a first year," Emylia looked at Relenah in shock but Relenah ignored her expression and continued, "However, I do know that reckless fighting is prohibited. If you really want to fight me, then challenge me to a formal duel."
Whispers burst forth once more, this time louder and filled with shock and ridicule.
"She actually asked for a formal duel?!"
"Well she isn't wrong; you can't fight as you'd like unless it's a duel witnessed by a teacher."
"Where did she get her confidence from? Is it bad that my heart skipped a beat just now? So cool!" Relenah felt her eyebrow twitch at the last comment but ignored it.
The youth in front of Relenah scoffed, "You want a formal duel? You're just digging your own grave. Everyone heard what you've just said. Don't come crying to me when you lose in a bit."
Emylia looked at Relenah with a conflicted look on her face, "Are you sure? Even if you're an S level, he's a fourth year, and he's a purple ranked student too!" Emylia whispered into Relenah's ear.
Relenah finally took the time to analyze the youth and found that he wore bright red robes and he had purple embroideries on his robe. Clenching her fists, she gulped. What has she gotten herself into?! Mother, you told me to be brave but I feel like what I did was just being plain stupid!
Shaking her head, Relenah unclenched her fists. There's no use crying over spilt milk. She made her own bed, and now she has to lay in it.
"You, go call a teacher, tell them that we're requesting for a duel," The youth pointed to one of he's followers. The student in question quickly nodded his head and started running towards the back of the training area.
A few minutes pass before sounds of footsteps echoed towards their direction. Relenah lifted her head and was mildly surprised when she saw the facial paralyzed teacher from earlier in the day. He didn't have much of an expression on his face but Relenah could tell that he felt slightly annoyed.
"Who is dueling who?" The teacher spoke in a solemn voice.
The youth raised his hand and gave Relenah a taunting smile, "I would like to challenge the new S class water element student."
The teacher turned his head and stared at Relenah, "Do you accept his challenge?"
"I accept," Relenah spoke in a crisp clear voice. Emylia felt fear creeping up her spine for her new friend.
The teacher nodded his head, turned around and started walking towards something that looked like a giant stage. Relenah was surprised but she quickly followed the teacher when she saw the youth following the teacher as well.
Relenah looked around and saw that the stage had a giant glowing circle around it. There were sitting areas built into the walls when she tilted her head up. There was a total of three walls surrounding the stage. When she looked up, she noticed that the stage was directly below the square box that she saw earlier that day.
Relenah suddenly felt something touch her shoulders. She turned her head and saw that it was Emylia, "Good luck, and do your best. Also, be careful. Even if he's not in S class, he's still a fourth year, so he's been in plenty of duels before you."
Relenah felt touched and gave Emylia a comforting smile, "Thank you for the tip. I'll be careful."
Emylia let out a sigh and slowly made her way towards the sitting area.
Turning her attention back onto the stage, Relenah saw the youth standing in one corner, so she stood in the opposite corner. The teacher was standing in the middle of the stage, "I hereby bear witness to this duel between Frederick, fourth year fire elemental student, and Relenah, first year water elemental student. Since no earlier bets were placed, this will be a fight to prove one's strength."
Relenah heard numerous claps and shouts coming from the sitting area but her attention was completely focused on the water elements around her.
This was her chance. Her chance to prove that she deserved being in S class, regardless of her year. This was also a good opportunity to get rid of future annoyances that were brave enough to question her class ranking.
The youth, Frederick, saw Relenah standing with her eyes closed and mistook it for fear, "Hmph, in the end, you're just a little kid playing hero. I don't know how you became an S level, but beating you will still bring me satisfaction," Frederick thought to himself.
The teacher saw that both sides were ready, lifting his hand, he started the fight with a shout, "Begin!"
Frederick started his chant loudly with wide exaggerated movements, "Lucifer guard dog of hell, open hell's gate and lend me hell's flame, devour my enemies and burn them to ashes!"
Relenah opened her eyes and followed Frederick's every movement. She saw fire gathering around Frederick, following his arm movements. With a yell, Frederick lifted his hands and sliced downwards towards Relenah.
"Feel my wrath!" Frederick shouted.
Relenah watched as the fire Frederick gathered condensed into a long beam and was slicing in a downward motion towards her, much like a fire sword. As she watched the flames, she could feel a smile threatening to come out.
Frederick's fire was, mediocre at best. The heat was barely passable, and he even called it hell's flame? She could see the fire elements quickly dispersing as it was coming towards her. This was one thing she noticed the students here lacked. They lacked the ability to properly control the elements so that they don't disappear after being used.
With a faint sigh, Relenah lifted her hands and a water dome quickly appeared around her. She could barely hear people's shock and outrage when they saw her water dome.
"How did she do that?! I didn't even hear her chant!"
"So fast? How? What? Did I miss something?"
"I blinked and suddenly there's a water dome? And it's so big!"
Frederick was alarmed when he saw the dome, but he couldn't stop his fire sword so with a shout, he focused his might on this first attack.
Frederick's fire sword finally came into contact with Relenah's water dome. However, to everyone's surprise, Frederick's fire sword immediately evaporated into thin air. Even the teacher in charge had a small look of surprise on his face.
"Now, it's my turn," Relenah released her water dome and sent Frederick a small smile.
Taking a deep breath, Relenah gathered the water around her that was left from the water dome and created a floating ceiling of ice above the stage. Students sitting in the stand gaped at the situation. Even Emylia couldn't stop her mouth from touching the ground. Thinking back, she did remember Relenah building a wall of ice earlier in a split second.
Emylia didn't question her at the time since she was too focused on her failed attempts, but thinking back on it now, Emylia could feel a cold chill going down her spine. Powerful! Too shockingly powerful!
Frederick looked up at the ceiling of ice in slight fear. Too fast! Was she really a first year?! How the hell did she accomplish this feat?!
Relenah clenched her hands into fists, causing the ceiling to shatter, forming hundreds of icicles above them. Moving her hands in a circular motion, she watches as the icicles circled Frederick, not leaving any way out.
Frederick could feel sweat dripping down the side of his head as he watched those icicles surrounding him. He was completely cornered from all sides. It felt like he was in an iron maiden trap.
"Do you admit defeat," Relenah spoke loudly, breaking the intense atmosphere.
"I-I ad-admit… de-defeat…" Frederick slowly stuttered, sweat pouring endlessly down the back of his neck.
Relenah turned her attention to the teacher in charge. Was it bad that she felt a little happy about making the always-facial-paralyzed teacher stand there frozen in shock? The teacher in question quickly snapped out of his reverie and cleared his throat when he saw Relenah's stare.
"I now declare Relenah, first year water elemental student, winner of this duel."
Relenah breathed out and quickly melted the icicles surrounding Frederick. Frederick jumped off the stage as soon as he was released and ran out of the training area faster than the wind. Looking at his retreating back, Relenah saw the students that were with Frederick trying to catch up to him.
"Congratulations on your win!" Before Relenah could react, she suddenly felt a heavy body slam into her tiny body. She almost fell down but the other party quickly steadied her and was now holding her at arm's length.
"I knew you were brilliantly smart, but to see you in action! It was like watching an actual full-fledged elementalist fight!" Emylia started shaking Relenah's shoulders, causing the person being shaken to feel dizzy.
"E-Emylia, c-can… you p-please… stop shaking m-me?" Relenah managed to blurt out.
"Oh, sorry about that! I got too excited," Emylia stopped shaking her and quickly apologized but she still had her hands around Relenah's shoulders.
"Hey, tell me, where did you learn to fight like that? It looked like a big spell, much harder than my dumb explosion spell, that's for sure," Emylia shook her head but then stared at Relenah expectantly.
"Um… I… don't remember? I think I read about it one time from a book my father gave me," Relenah coughed and lied through her teeth. She can't very much tell Emylia that the spell was something she thought up of on the spot, now can she?
Apparently, magic here was taught based on spells and incantations. However, this was just Relenah's speculation since she hasn't had the time to go to classes or read the books that were in her private library.
Emylia opened her mouth again but before she could speak Relenah quickly interrupted, "I actually have introduction classes in a bit, so I have to go now."
Relenah quickly dodged out of Emylia's hold, which surprised the cinder-covered girl. Before Emylia could react, Relenah was already out of her sight. "Dang it, she got away," Emylia huffed. She finally found someone that can help her figure out all the hard spells that she found.
Shaking her head, she stood up straight with a big smile on her face, "Oh well, I can always look for her in the S level classes or during training," With that thought, Emylia nodded her head and went back to the training dummies to continue practicing her new explosion spell.
The facial paralyzed teacher stood, unmoving, on the stage as the rest of the students left one by one. When he was finally alone, he looked up at the square box above the stage. "I can see why you put her in S class. What do you want me to do next?" He asked in a low voice.
The box that were tinted black quickly became translucent and the figure of a noble-looking gentleman appeared. His mouth moved but no words were heard. However, the teacher below was able to read his lips and nodded his head at the order.
"Understood, I'll keep an eye on her."