A skinny professor with glasses walked up to the front of the stage. He turned to face the students, took a deep breath, then began to speak.
His voice was gentle, as though he were holding a normal conversation, but it boomed out into the room. "Dearest students, I am Dean Halfhoof! Few of you know me, but I know a great deal about all of you. More importantly, I have the great honor to introduce our very own Headmaster Deersgrove at each assembly!"
"Now I know that many of the returning students are eager to resume their studies and the new students are even more eager to begin their own journeys. Therefore, I won't take any more of you time. It is my pleasure to present to you today... HEADMASTER DEERSGROVE!" The Dean shouted the last two words and they bounced around the room, as if alive.
The sound of airhorns came from every side as a man appeared center-stage with a flash of lightning. This was, of course, Headmaster Deersgrove.
"Are you ready for some SCHOOLING? 'Cus make no mistake, you're about to get SCHOOLED! I'm Headmaster Deersgrove and some old fogey told me to give you all a warm welcome, so here I am. You have entered a school with a long-enduring history of success. You have been welcomed to an academy filled to the brim with the best talent and learning you'll find outside of the Capital. But that's enough about me. This is about you! So without further ado, let the drawings begin!"
All the new students looked at each other in shock. For those, like Michael, who had met the headmaster, this was nothing like what they expected. For those that hadn't, they were merely completely confused. Drawings? What drawings? What was happening!?!
A blast of smoke flooded the stage. When it cleared, seven adults, presumably teachers, were standing on stage. Michael could recognize five of them. The first four were Masters Delta, Cole, Mari and Dawn. The last one in line, however, was Master Robin! Why hadn't he told Michael about any of this? He was as lost as his classmates!
Master Delta called out a name and a tall, willowy boy walked over to the bottom of the stage. Then, Master Cole called out a name. This time, a short, bulky girl stepped forward. She did the same thing the boy had, but opted to stand in front of Master Cole. This continued another five times until each Master had a student in front of them. Then, each student called a name out in turn. Seven slightly-younger students stepped forward to stand with the ones who had called their names.
With each set of students, they became younger and younger until each line had four students in it. The incoming first-year students still had little idea what was going on, but Michael and some of the others had prepared themselves to have their names called, just in case.
Sure enough, the first boy called out for Scott to join his line. Nobody was quite sure how they knew his name, but Scott got up and joined the line regardless. The next line called for Kayn. Then Malachi. Then the next called for Jake. Julia was next and then there was only one master remaining.
The boy seemed ready to speak and started to say something, but then the oldest student in the line pulled them all into a huddle. Some quick whispers went back and forth until finally the entire group seemed to agree. The boy turned to face the crowd again and said his choice. "Connie!"
When Connie had made her way to the stage, all the lights went dark. Michael could hear movement and considered using his magic to see what was going on, but stopped when no one else did it. A few moments later, the lights turned on again. All the teams were on stage and it appeared that they were preparing for a duel. That's right, the welcoming ceremony was actually a team duel!
Having never watched a proper duel before, Michael was captivated. He had already gathered that each team was comprised of the most talented individuals in each element. He was a bit miffed about being overlooked, but it was probably for the best. This way, he could watch and figure out the rules first.
It seemed that a team only had to choose the first person to compete while the rest waited to see what would happen. The first duel was between the fourth-year water student and the fifth year earth student.
Both students took up their positions. The earth mage held a hard maple staff, whereas the water mage had a red oak wand. They bowed to each other, then leveled their weapons. As a resounding "bong!" filled the room, spells began to fly.
The water mage wasted no time, immediately sending a literal stream of attacks at their opponent. The earth mage countered with a stone wall, temporarily blocking the attack. But instead of rendering the attack useless, she merely deterred it. The water began to go around the wall, forcing the earth mage to put up walls all around her. She was completely defended, but she couldn't see her opponent.
And still, the water mage was casting more spells. They had given up on that first attack, instead enhancing their body slightly and preparing a spear of water. They grabbed the spear and ran at the wall. Right before they hit it, they threw the spear. At the same time, a spike shot out below their feet, knocking them to the ground. A nurse came out and began to heal the water student as the stone walls dropped.
The Earth mage was injured, but still standing. However, she wasn't permitted healing and was instead made to fight the fifth-year water mage. This time, the fight ended quickly. The water mage overpowered his opponent, sending her to the ground without suffering any attacks himself.
This continued until only the first years remained. Between Scott and Kayn, Scott held a definite advantage here. Both were strong mages, but Kayn's walls couldn't compare to the older earth mages. Scott's attacks easily broke through his defenses, winning the match for the Water team.
A mixture of cheers and boos chimed from the audience. Thanks to the uniforms, Michael was able to identify most of the cheers as belonging to Water students, and most boos came from Earth students. Still, some other students joined in too, likely cheering for their friends (or whichever team they'd rather fight).
The next fight resulted in the Fire team beating the Air team. Despite their best attempts, air magic tended to increase the power of their enemy's attacks, rather than decrease them. Some put up a valiant effort, snuffing out the flames or redirecting them, but it just wasn't enough. In the next round, the Light team beat the Darkness team, which Michael thought was ridiculous.
It seemed as though the Darkness team focused on hiding in the shadows or blinding their opponents. Such magics were helpful, but not enough to truly defeat their foes. Michael was sure his Darkness magic would be far stronger than what he was seeing, but he couldn't completely fault them for their lack of ingenuity.
The competition raged on until only two teams remained.
The Water team faced off against Master Robin's team. Michael wasn't entirely sure what their team was supposed to be, mainly because only one mage had fought so far. The fifth-year's mixture of water, fire and earth magic allowed them to easily counter their opponents. He even seemed to take it easy on the younger students, but nobody could touch him.
Now in the final round, he allowed the first Water mage to hit him. He calmly walked over to the healers and signaled for Connie to take the stage. It seemed that he was too strong and simply wanted to give his teammates a chance to shine.
Connie walked forward eagerly with a dark smile on her face. Already, Michael could sense a swirl of magics near her. When the gong sounded, it just kept going. And going. And going. Connie's sound magic amplified the noise for her opponent, sending a third-year to the ground. She didn't even wait for a medic, instead healing them herself.
Oh boy, this was going to be brutal.