"Things are going rather smoothly," Seventeen mused as he floated in the sky above the island.
He was watching the progress of the preliminary round on the magia screen on his bracelet, which showed a live feed of everything happening beneath and above the trees.
The live feed was broadcasted directly from the eyes of hundreds of invisible wind spirits scattered all over the island.
Occasionally, he would magnify his vision and personally watch the more exciting fights.
"Aaron Cadis. What a terrifying kid," he remarked when the announcement of his entry into the tower reached Seventeen.
He took his eyes off the magia screen and magnified his vision to find his students. After a minute, he found them.
A small smile appeared on his face. "Looks like they are having fun."
"Shame I can't join them," a voice spoke behind him.
Seventeen yelped and almost flipped in the air.
"Goodness! Please don't scare me like that! It's not good for my heart!" he told a rather amused Vanessa.
She was wearing the uniform of Cardinal Academy, but the color was different. Everything was black, and she also wore black leggings with boots.
She scoffed, "You're a machine. Do you even have a heart?"
"I have a core. Well, two," he replied. "I guess that qualifies as a heart for me."
"Why do you have two cores?"
"I have no idea. The second one is not even activated," Seventeen shrugged.
He had combed through the entire instruction manual about him and found nothing about his second core.
(You will learn when the time is right.)
That's what Prime told him when he asked about it.
"How mysterious," Vanessa placed a hand on her face and looked him up and down. "I have the urge to open you up and study you."
Seventeen shuddered. "Please don't."
"But why? You cannot die, and you are incapable of feeling pain," she looked him in the face as she floated upside down.
"I am quite uncomfortable with that. Also, don't hang upside down in the air like that. Your skirt," he raised an eyebrow.
"Oops!" She righted herself and patted down her skirt. "For your information, I can keep my skirt in place even when I am upside down."
She pouted, "But I am upset! I wanted to take part in the Battle Festival."
"And initiate a continental crisis? No, thank you," Seventeen shook his head.
"Sorry, Vanessa. The Headmaster gave strict orders."
"But it'll be fine! Look at the number of Primordial Seals on me!" Vanessa rolled back her sleeves.
"One tight slap from you can kill a person. That is something called badly inconvenient," he crossed his arms and sighed.
"I know you're upset due to this."
"Of course I am!"
"But if it's any consolation, perhaps I, the Headmaster, and Popsicle can spar against you," Seventeen offered.
Vanessa stopped pouting and stared at him. "Really? Did you talk about this with them?"
"Not really. But I did bring up the idea when we were with the Headmaster, and he kind of agreed to it."
The Vampire Queen's eyes twinkled. "Aha! This will be a good opportunity to see the power of the Air Cardinal. I've never seen that guy in a proper fight."
"Same," Seventeen nodded. He had never seen the Headmaster in battle. Sure, the Cardinal had assumed battle stances, but he never actually fought.
Vanessa clapped. "Very well then. You three will fight with me after the Battle Festival is over."
She floated next to him. "In the meantime, how about I watch the preliminary round with you?"
Seventeen shrugged. "As long as you don't reveal yourself. It will be quite weird if a non-participating student floats in the sky with an instructor."
"Bah! Don't be such a worrywart. No one will be able to notice me. Worst-case scenario, people will think that you've lost your marbles and are talking to yourself," she looked down at the island, her eyes glowing.
Ignoring Seventeen's disapproving glare, she smiled.
"Things are getting rather hot down there."
*******
Arthur was glad for his tough scales.
Otherwise, he would've been dragon half-blood barbeque after the first few attacks from his opponent.
The young demon was relentless, executing powerful blows with his flaming sword and leaving no openings.
The contact between swirling magia and flames formed tiny explosions, with each attack deflected by Arthur.
Drops of sweat poured down his head as the intensity of the flames increased with each strike.
Over the sounds of the tiny explosions, he could hear the crackle of ice and rumble of the earth as Gray fought her opponent.
He also heard lightning crackling in the distance, along with many other sounds of battle. But he only focused on the lightning.
'Please don't get defeated like a moron,' he desperately thought.
But he got distracted, and his opponent took the chance.
He swung his scimitar upwards in an arc.
{Fire Code: Scorching Crescent}
A fiery arc of instant grilling appeared in front of Arthur. He wouldn't be able to dodge the attack.
He instinctively coated his entire body with magia and braced, praying that his magia defense and scales would be enough.
The roar of the flames was deafening as the code struck him. It was scorching hot, and he was pushed back. For a second, his vision was filled with swirling red flames.
The attack dissipated just as quickly as it was formed. Smoke rose from his slightly burned combat uniform, and he was pretty sure the ends of his long hair were singed along with the hairs on his arms.
He coughed out smoke.
But before he could say, "That was nasty," a red-hot curved blade rushed horizontally toward his face.
Arthur quickly ducked and rolled to the left. He scrambled up and, releasing a magia pulse, jumped backward right into a small clearing.
He skidded to a stop and ran to the side. He took out his knives and threw them at his opponent.
The young demon dodged them. Arthur flicked his wrist, and the knives twisted around and streaked to his opponent.
Sensing danger behind, the demon quickly turned around and deflected the knives, only for them to flip around and attack again.
Like a puppet master of death, Arthur skillfully controlled the knives with his magia strings and attacked from all directions.
The fact that they are in the woods increases his advantage as he can use the trees to loop the strings around and quickly change directions.
His opponent avoided and deflected the knives as he quickly reduced the distance between them.
Arthur gritted his teeth. Judging from his skills and power, this guy seems to be from Class A.
Even though he is sure that the top two classes are not specifically targeting Special Class A, he is just amazed by their terrible luck in encountering two students from those powerhouses.
Like a raging bull on fire, the young demon barreled towards him, flaming sword and all.
But just as he reached the young man, he abruptly stopped midswing. It was as if he froze in place.
Arthur smirked as his opponent's eyes widened in realization.
The demon was trapped in place by Arthur's almost invisible magia strings. He had strung them between the trees when he used his knives against the student.
His opponent grunted and tried to break the strings, only for them to tighten and dig into his skin.
Arthur exhaled, taking a brief rest. Normally, magia strings are quite easy to break, but these strings are different.
They are made of liquid magia. He had opened a vial of the pure form of magia just before confronting his opponent. A move that is now quite fruitful.
A string made of liquid magia is different from the regular type that Arthur frequently used in the past. It is more flexible, and its durability along with the thickness can be manipulated depending on his mastery over liquid magia.
And Arthur has managed to obtain complete mastery in just two months.
[Your progress is scary. I bet your instructor would be proud.]
Before he could respond to Inferno, something slammed into Arthur and knocked him to the ground. The something was Gray, and both sprawled on the ground.
This made Arthur lose focus, and the strings holding his opponent weakened. With another grunt, the young demon ripped his arms free of the strings and used his flaming scimitar to slash them away.
"Sorry about that," Gray said bluntly and got off his back.
"Yeah. It's fine," Arthur got up with a groan and looked at his friend. Her poker face showed no resemblance to her shy and soft personality, and her cold grey eyes sent chills up his spine.
[So this is the state of mind called Catharsis. How intriguing.]
'Can you please stop looking into my memories without permission?' Arthur grumbled internally as he and Gray stood back to back and faced their opponents as they emerged from the shadows of the woods.
Arthur's opponent, the young demon now fully free from the magia strings, strode towards him, looking pretty upset.
Gray's opponent is a slim young man with turquoise-colored hair and olive skin. He was surrounded by a swirling ring of glowing rocks. An earth attribute user.
"Just our luck to run into these guys," Arthur quipped as he recalled his knives and took a stance with Ghost.
"More experience for us," Gray replied in the monotonous sing-song voice that she uses when she is under Catharsis.
Just as the four of them were about to wreak havoc, a crackle followed by a whistling noise filled the air.
"Move!" Arthur yelled.
He and Gray jumped away just as a lightning-coated arrow plunged into the ground they were just standing and glowed purple.
"Shit!"
With a swear, he crossed his sword over his arm to shield himself and jumped back as a powerful explosion of lightning rocked the woods.
Skillfully landing on the ground, Arthur quickly narrowed his eyes and searched the trees.
"Now we have a bloody archer!"
A third player has joined the fray.