"So this is the place?"
"yh, we've gotta remember to pay that man back, he's been really convenient and helpful"
"Think about that later, right now we should focus on getting into the academy first" said King, a serious expression on his face as he eyed the building before them.
Bearing an almost identical resemblance to an ancient greek temple, it was spotlessly clean, a vibrant white and elegant.
They walked up its marble steps and past the row of pillars at its entrance, entering the room within.
"Dodge!" shouted Chronus in their minds
without hesitation King leaned back so far his knees where supporting his whole body at almost a right angle and Royale leapt up so high the tip of his braids having flung up as he came back down almost touched the ceiling 6 metres up.
As soon as they had entered the room two figures had sent a fly kick straight at their unsuspecting faces.
But that was not all. As King was pushing himself back upright, a fist covered the whole width of his vision.
Still leaning back at an awkward angle he quickly brought his hand up, deflecting the punch.
Ignoring the pain in the back of his hand, he responded to the attack with roundhouse kick to his opponents gut which was dodged by his assailant who front flipped into the air bringing down with them a ferocious axe kick straight at Kings head.
Finally upright King swiftly twisted his body to the side, evading the kick, grabbing his opponents leg in the process and swinging them round with full force straight at the ground.
Expecting the sound of a body slamming painfully against the ground, he was shocked to see his opponent disappear in a burst of red-hot flames. He jumped back so as not to get burnt.
"Stay alert! they're using either their ability or magic! Behind you!" Chronus alerted him
King ducked forward immediately as his assailant's leg swung past but just as he twisted round and released a punch at the opponent they disappeared in another burst of flames only to reappear above him with another axe kick which he just about dodged. But again just he kicked at his opponent they burst into flames and disappeared again only to reappear with a punch aimed at his gut only for King to dodge and for them to disappear again.
This continued for a while, King constantly dodging hits until he grew tired of this vexing game.
"If your going to use an ability its only fair i do too isn't it?" He muttered glancing at and making eye contact with Royale who too had been experiencing the same vexing tricks from his opponent.
The opponent reappeared with a drop kick at Kings head. Just as it was about to connect, King disappeared.
One second he was their the next he was gone.
Before the assailant could even react to his sudden disappearance King had reappeared behind him and connected a punch to the back of their head which flung them into the wall in front.
Upon impact with the wall the opponent dispersed into flames again and reappeared behind King with another roundhouse kick. King disappeared again but this time it wasnt him who reappeared above his opponent and landed a powerful axe kick on their head- it was Royale.
He and King had swapped places, King having reappeared in front of and landing a hefty punch to Royale's opponent's gut.
Both assailants vanished and re-emerged with punches aimed at King and Royale's faces but once again both assailants found themselves face down on the floor as King and Royale vanished and reappeared landing feet first on top of their opponents, once again having swapped places.
A new scene played out in which The assailants would disappear and reappear only to be hit with attacks from their blind spots as King and Royale too vanished and re-emerged seemingly faster than their opponents. All while continuously swapping places and opponents.
Damage from continuous hits pilled up on the assailants, it was clear they were no longer in charge and it seemed almost as if King and Royale where making the most of the opportunity to practice their co-ordination.
After a while longer the assailants both simultaneously burst into flames and never reappeared.
Following the disappearance of their attackers was the sound of clapping from further within the room as the wall in front of King and Royale shimmered and disappeared to reveal that the room was much bigger than initially shown and that King and Royale who where now stood casually dusting themselves off where not alone.
In fact there was in front of them a small crowd of people, most of them around their own age, some of them starred at King and Royale in awe, some in approval, others had looks of clear jealousy on their faces while others looked indifferent and unconcerned.
From the crowd, the source of the clapping came forward. It was a man, about 6 foot 2, light brown skin, wavy black and red hair, bushy eyebrows of the same colour ,a clean shaven, smooth face and red and black eyes. He wore a black three piece suit covered by a long blue overcoat and an impressed smile on his face as he approached the two boys while still clapping.
"Best performance we've had so far wasn't it Jorn?" he had a light-hearted tone as he said this, turning to who was presumably his partner who stood at the back of the crowd.
King and Royale glanced at the other man, surprised to see a familiar figure. It was the large man who had helped them.
The first thing anyone would note about this man was his height, he was ridiculously tall - easily 7 foot plus- and equally muscular, he was white and had straight black and dark brown hair and eyes with a bushy beard of the same colours that covered the bottom half of his face. As well as a permanently serious expression he wore a black suit similar to the other man and a huge blue cloak that reached his ankles.
He made eye contact with King and Royale and nodded at the both of them, grunting in agreement.
The other man seemed shocked at his agreement and raised a surprised eyebrow "Oh? Are you all aquainted in some way?"
"Just some Kids I encountered before, nothing important, get on with it will you?" replied Jorn.
"If you say so" the man turned back to King and Royale with an even bigger smile " Excellent performance lads, superb reflexes, swift and fast movements, strong and powerful blows, not to mention your co-ordination and team work which i presume has to do with your abilities? I'm not going to ask you to reveal it to us but to switch places and opponents effortlessly like that, you must've realised that both your opponents where moving identically which shows keen observation skills on top of remaining calm and collected in the heat of battle. Not only that but neither of you seem like that was even remotely challenging for you, Simply marvellous" he praised them.
"We appreciate the praise but what was that for? Was that the trial for the academy?" asked Royale. If it was then he couldn't help but feel disappointed. It was just as the man said, even if it was Chronus who had noticed the identical movements of their opponents it was too easy for them, he came here in hopes of getting stronger, if that was the requirement for entry then he doubted how effective this academy would be.
"this is simply the first stage, even if you had been beaten here you would've been accepted through to the next stage anyway." the man explained.
"Okay so why was it necessary?"
The man grinned "So we can split you into teams"
At his words chatter and whispering spread among the candidates
"Teams?"
"For the next stage?"
"so we have to work with others?"
"Shit, they might drag me down"
"How are they gonna split us up?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
"The ones who performed the best are probably gonna be on the same teams"
"What? But thats not even fair!"
"Tcchh, look at you complaining about fairness, grow up"
"Now now, shush! all of you relax and calm down!" Shouted the brown skinned man in order to reclaim control.
"Do not worry, yes you will be separated into teams for the next stage meaning you will have to work with others. Wether you let them drag you down or not is up to you but do not worry, we pride ourselves on a fair trial so it would make no sense for us to put the currently considered strongest ones on the same team. No, instead we will let you all pick one person as a partner to pair up with and following that we will asses your duos' overall strength based on how well you did in the initial trial and team you up accordingly with another pair to balance out your team of four's overall strength with the rest of the candidates for the next trial"
'So basically the stronger ones are gonna be paired up with the weaker ones. Not a bad idea, this way no one can complain about it being unfair and they can accurately asses teamwork and an individuals compatibility with working with strangers' Chronus observes in their minds.
This seemed to calm down the group of candidates as silence once again descended.
"To introduce ourselves" pointing to himself and then at The large man Jorn "My name is Projo Limiko and this here is my partner Jorn Ameran, we are two of the many esteemed professors at Aramiel Celestial Magic Academy and your assessors for today"
Another round of whispers and chattering erupted throughout the hall.
"Wait, they're professors?"
"Damn, they look every bit as professional as I thought they would be"
"So that was one of their abilities right? The fire things we were fighting?"
"Yh probably, but whose?"
"Probably Professor Limiko's"
"Huh? what makes you say that?"
"Those things were obviously made of fire so the owner has to have the fire element right? Professor Limiko is the only one out of the two of them to have red in his hair meaning he has the fire attribute"
"Doesn't mean its his, The hair colour eludes to the magical element of a person not their abilities, those humanoid fire things were clearly an ability not magic"
"Oh yh i guess your right"
"I know i didn't exactly beat those fire things but it didn't seem that much stronger than me, if that's one of their abilities isn't it abit disappointing and weak for Professors of such a prestigious academy?"
"yeah you're right, felt like i could've beaten them if i was only a little bit stronger"
"Silence!" Shouted Professor Limiko and with the shout came an intense burst of heat so hot and strong it blew some of the candidates surrounding him away and caused everyone except Professor Ameran, who just stood there casually, to collapse down to the floor and begin sweating profusely. A faint burning smell began to linger as their surroundings and clothes began to slowly go up in flames.
Professor Limiko grinned mischievously as around him materialised 4 humanoid red fire beings a lot taller and more powerful than the ones from earlier who stood menacingly two on each side of Limiko. Despite being red and made of fire, they were so smooth and refined that were it not for having no clothing showing their obvious lack of genitals and their empty/blank faces you could mistake them for humans. Tall and muscular humans.
Along with Limiko who continued to grin, they radiated an almost venomous sense of danger. King and Royale who were tenaciously staying on their knees felt their senses screaming at them to run.
Amongst the whimpering and choked sobs of candidates struggling to either get up, run or not helplessly cry Professor Limiko's voice echoed through the hall.
"Yes it was my ability, but do not think for a second you would have any hope of beating it, of course i weakened them to give you all a chance and even then only a select few of you managed to defeat them. Had they been at full power you all would've been decimated in a single blink, never, and i mean NEVER underestimate your opponent or think you can defeat a professor again. Not until you have graduated that is, and even then, each professor is a grade 8 combatant or above. They are the cream of the crop whose strength most people only wish they could attain. Never undermine their power again, do I make myself clear?"
"...."
No one could answer, instead many just helplessly pleaded with their eyes to be released from whatever it was they were under
Royale instead was shaking in delight despite also being unable to move from his position down on one knee. "Th-this strength, All of this only from having used his ability. With strength like that no one would dare touch those he cares for! This academy can make me just as strong! no! stronger!"
Coincidentally although neither of them knew it, both King and Royale at this time thought the same thing:
"This is the power of an academy professor!"
"Oh yes, i guess you can't talk much right now can you", he deactivated his ability and almost immediately the tenseness in the atmosphere as well as the fire which had engulfed the room, leaving burn marks on the floor and the lingering smell of burnt clothes, although, both Professors' clothes were unharmed, disappeared and all the candidates who had all been holding their breaths let out a collective sigh of relief.
"Do I make myself clear?!"
"Y-yes!" responded the candidates.
"Now," he turned towards King and Royale again "We currently have 45 candidates here and the entry limit for this trial place is 48 so we shall wait a little longer in the hopes 3 more potential candidates appear, both of you come over here and stand somewhere while we wait"
King and Royale followed his orders and as they crossed over to where they were standing, behind them the fake wall reappeared, hiding them from anyone who might enter the building.
They stood at the back of the crowd amongst stares from other candidates and patiently waited.
*****
20 minutes later the fake wall disappeared for good and Professor Limiko clapped loudly to get everyone's attention. "now that we've got enough people," he turned to Professor Ameran " Can we go now?"
Professor Ameran noded.
"To the next trial ground we go!"
Some blue aura like stuff flowed from his hand down to the floor they stood on and the next second they had all disappeared.