Chapter 5 - Equilibrium

I woke up from my nap and checked my phone for the time <14:53> ' I only a couple hours of sleep damn', as I sat up my vision was a bit blurry I moved my gaze to the letter on my desk, I rubbed my eyes to see clearer, I picked up the letter, it had an old wax seal with an imprint of a sword in a set of scales with books on the right side and weapons on the left, I opened it carefully to not damage the seal since it looked nice inside was a small note that read "Shirou, you have been chosen to participate in an entrance exam for equilibrium academy for your use of magic and the bravery you showed today, we had one of our scouts watching over you since that day at your school, your use of mana speed and mana enhancement has made us decide to allow you to participate in our entrance exam, be by the alleyway to the city at 15:20, we will see you there -Equilibrium academy".

I pulled out my phone to check the time at the minute <14:59> "shit it took me 6 minutes to read that I need to read quicker shit I should probably change", I got up and walked to my wardrobe and picked black cargo jeans, a black shirt, and a black hoodie, I quickly changed and threw my clothes I wore into my laundry basket "well I should better get going" i put my phone in my pocket and left, 'mana traversal', I checked my phone for the time, <15:09>, 'I have time so I might as well just chill for a bit', as I went to sit down I realized something felt wrong I looked to my left and someone in all black a clown mask was standing there he looked about 5'8 before I could actually realise what was going on he was already in my face and he had pulled a knife out on me, I was able to I kick the knife out of his hand, I hit him with an upper cut and knocked him to the ground he got up quickly and he went for a punch 'mana speed' even though I used mana speed the hit connected he punched the right side of my face and he kept repeatedly punching me in the face I wasn't able to use mana speed to escape, I noticed a small window were I could kick him back so I went for hit 'mana enhancement ' I managed to kick him to the ground, he tried getting up but I charged at him and pinned him down I was unable to see his face but I was able to question him "who are you", "my name is shadow", "alright shadow why did you come at me", "I can't tell you that", I flipped him over and punched him in the stomach "tell me", "no I can't", 'mana enhancement ' I hit him in the stomach again "i'd recommend you tell me before I start hitting your face", "fine it was this guy I don't know his name but he said you'd be coming here at this time he payed me to kill you", "what did he look like", "he had long blond hair, he was tall, he was wearing all white clothing, he had green eyes and he had a scar on his right eye", "alright", I heard a noise to my left, it was 3 guys standing about 5 feet away from me and shadow, the guy in the middle spoke "Shirou I see you have met our second participant shadow", I looked down at shadow 'so that's why mana speed didn't, work' I got off of shadow and helped him up "seems so, where's everyone else?", "Well, Mr Shirou they're all behind you" both I and shadow turned our heads and about 10 people were standing there.

"My name is Arthur I will be your headmaster As you know you 12 people have been chosen to participate in our entrance exam only 4 of you will be accepted the rest will be sent to worse academies I wish you all the best of luck no if you'll follow me I'll take you to where the entrance exam is taking place", Arthur looked young about mid-twenties, he was in a black and white suit, he had pretty long hair i could tell even though he had it tied up and he was relatively tall about 5'1, Arthur created a portal and led us through it on the other side was a school it was ginormous it had massive gates 3 massive towers with domes on top with a little platform at the top of the domes with a spiked top, the school looked about 5 stories tall and the area inside the gates stretched 10 kilometres wide and 30 kilometres long after about 5 minutes of walking I turned to shadow, "yo shadow I'm Shirou I got an idea", "that is", "we find the guy that paid you to kill me and we jump him and take his money and split it 50/50", "alright if you get in that is", "I should be saying that to you", me and shadow chuckled, it was silent for the next 10 minutes until we reached a coliseum type building with two doors.

"Ok the first test is combat only the winners will pass, the list is 1st Shadow and Axel 2nd is Michael and Jake 3rd is Callum and Lewis 4th is Max and Sarah 5th is Emily and Jane and 6th is Jayden and Shirou, Shadow and Axel head through the door to the left, everyone else please go through the door to the right, "yo shadow good luck man", "appreciate it good luck in yours as well", "thanks man", we walked through the door on the right and up a flight of stairs there were seats everywhere, everyone sat down and waited for the Shadow and Axel to come out I decided to get a front row seat, it took about 5 minutes before they both came out, there was a railing on the side of the arena it was about a 20-foot drop to the ground, I used the time to observe the arena, there was an elevated area made of concrete it looked about 20 meters in diameter the rest of the ground was just dry dirt and I noticed there was a door just opposite of me.

Shadow came out still wearing all black with the clown mask, and Axel came out wearing a green shirt and grey jeans, the headmaster came out of the door opposite where I was sitting "Shadow are you ready", "yes sir", "Axel are you ready", "yes sir", "alright the rules are whoever steps out of the arena now fight" the headmaster went back in the door, Shadow and Axel were already in each other's faces and it wasn't even a second into the fight, Shadow through a right hook and got Axel good, Axel returned the same punch but wasn't able to connect it, Shadow started to pummel Axel with a flurry of punches, it looked like the match was already decided but Axel ended up blocking one of Shadows attacks which threw him off, Axel then tried to kick Shadow in the side of the head using his right leg, I noticed a heavy flow of mana surrounding axel's leg, I'm guessing Axel used mana enhancement on his leg to make the kick more powerful, Shadow ducked under and swept Axels left leg then Shadow grabbed the back of Axel's head and smashed it on the concrete over and over again, blood was sticking to the concrete it took about 10 minutes before shadow stopped then he dragged axel and made him put his teeth on the curb of the arena and then he started to stomp on his head seconds later shadow instantly starts rubbing his face against the concrete tearing the skin off his face axel was still alive but was barely able to breathe, Shadow turned axel on his back and shoved a piece of his clown mask in his throat, making axel choke.

The headmaster reappeared by my side "Shirou who do you think will win", "well I'm not too sure I would have to go with Shadow since I've seen how he fights first-hand but I have no idea about Axel", "Shirou you're different from everyone else aren't you", "what do you mean by that", your ability that only you can do", "what do you mean", "purgery", he caught me off guard "how did you know about that", "your mana Shirou", "my mana?", "yes it looks different from everyone else's", "how?", "it's dark, it's like it wants to get everything in its path, shirou you have one of the 7 don't you", "one of the 7?", "one of the seven devils", I didn't know what to say I was focusing on the fight but also trying to talk to Arthur but him mentioning the seven devils threw my more off guard than before, "I already got my answer, I'll be waiting for your fight goodbye Shirou", the headmaster disappeared again, and shadow won, by the end of the fight blood splattered all over the concrete it looked like Axel was unconscious, nurses immediately rushed to Axel and started using high grade healing magic on him.

'how the fuck did he know, my mana? what the hell how, I should just calm down and look at the fights until it's my turn', I looked back at the arena, Shadow was playing with Axel, he was just standing there waiting for Axel to wake up just to knock him out again, 10 minutes passed by ad the headmaster reappeared back at the door opposite me, he declared Shadow the winner, I grabbed my phone from my pocket and checked the time <16:24> I put my phone back in my pocket and I decided to sleep for the next couple fights since I didn't think they'd be worth looking at, I woke up and grabbed my phone from my pocket and checked the time <17:12> I looked like a fight was just getting finished I put my phone back in my pocket and waited.

"Will Shirou and Jayden come to the arena for their combat exam", 'oh shit its already the last round better get a move on I got off my chair and jumped over the railing and I realised it wasn't a good idea if I hit the ground 'please work please work, 'mana enhancement ', I landed on the ground safely 'holy shit it actually worked', I was getting ready to start the fight but I had to refill my mana rings if I want a chance at winning I'm not taking any risks 'mana gain', Jayden came out he was wearing all white, he had long black hair and brown eyes, "Shirou are you ready", "yeah ready as I'll ever be", "Jayden are you ready", "yes sir", I was sizing up Jayden he looked weak but I still acted like he would be a challenge I admit I got cocky, "alright both of you can now fight", Arthur then teleported to one of the seats in the crowd.

Jayden came at me as soon as the headmaster went into the crowd, I wasn't able to keep up with him at a normal pace 'mana speed', 'That's better', I was able to dodge him now he threw a left hook I managed to evade him, and I managed to hit him in his right armpit 'mana enhancement ', Jayden backed off and tried to taunt me into attacking him I took a moment to analyse the situation, "come on are you going to attack me or not", "why don't you attack first you're obviously trying to get me in a trap", "how observant of you", jayden let his guard down, 'I'm not buying it', my mana speed wore off and Jayden rushed at me and hit me with a flurry of punches and kicks all mana enhanced I was able to stay conscious for about 10 more seconds before I blacked out I heard a voice, "hey kid", "HEY KID", I was back into the abyss "where are you greed?", "Finally kid I was trying to talk to you", "What do you need", "That kid your fighting he's powerful, too powerful you need to use purgery to win", "You're just trying to get control of me trying to use me as a vessel", "KID just shut up and use purgery using it a little won't make you mine to control s use it and win", "fine".

After leaving the abyss I was able to see the fight again, "hey Jayden you have amazing stamina", "what makes you say that", "you kept up your speed with that flurry for 10 seconds I want stamina like yours I already feel tired", and just like that I already felt better, Jayden backed off and I rushed towards Jayden and gave him a flurry of attacks for 10 seconds before Arthur stepped in "SHIROU STOP, Jayden wins, I'd like you to meet me outside, NOW", "alright", "get Jayden to the nurses his stamina can still be regained", "right", 2 men in black took Jayden to the nurses to regain his stamina they must have some kind of spell for it, I walked out of the arena and met Arthur, "what did you need sir", "Shirou what you did was against the exam regulations, using greed's power to win", "I'm sorry sir it won't happen again", "your right it won't happen you know this could get you exiled from the every magic academy in the world", "sir please don't, I need to get stronger please", "calm down, I'm making an exception for you since i know your related to a legend who was able to contain greed but if you use greed's power again without my permission or without being able to have total control over greed then you'll be out of here in a second", "thank you sir thank you so much", "for the second time in history the combat exam has had 7 people who passed, now follow me to the second exam", "yes sir".

Arthur walked me to the second exam the people who passed were, Shadow, Jake, Lewis, max, jane, Jayden and me, "Shirou glad you could make it I thought you would be out", "I got lucky", "Shirou, Shadow stop talking focus on the exam", "sorry sir", Shadow and I said at the same time, "for this exam we will be testing how fast you can learn a new spell if it's under a minute you'll pass, if not you' fail, the spell you'll be learning is a combat spell called fireball, now there are many different magic types fire, creation, wind, ice, water, earth, manipulation, healing, time, space, shadow, illusion, necromancy, anti-magic and phantom, you can also merge magic types to make subclass magic but you'll learn that soon if you pass, by the way no mage has ever been able to learn all magic types but a magic that's even more difficult to learn is phantom magic, it's dangerous to learn you may even die learning a beginner phantom spell", everyone looked eager to get on with the exam, "Shirou come first", "alright".

Arthur brought me to a room with 3 dummies, "Shirou for fireball you'll need to focus your mana into your palm then imagine it turning into a fire just say fireball instead of thinking it, you have a minute to learn go", "alright", 'ok focus' I imagined mana coming to my palm then it turning into an infernal blaze then without a second thought I yelled it out "FIREBALL", a ball of fire brighter than the sun came out of my hand destroying all three dummies "Shirou 10 seconds that's record time there's no doubt about it your his descendant alright", "so where should I go now", "wait outside and I'll come to get you with everyone that passes", "alright", I went outside and waited for the others to pass, Shadow got to take his test second he was still wearing that clown mask, around 30 seconds later Shadow came out "yoo bro I passed", "hell yeah bro", around 4 minutes later everyone came out but Max and Lewis failed.

The headmaster walked out of the room and looked at us, "your third exam will be armed combat against my familiars any questions?", I put my hands in my pocket, "so why don't just fight each other and the last 3 left standing to get in?", "Good question shadow, well it's because we need to see how good you are at fighting high-level creatures", "alright", Arthur walked over to me "Shirou would you like to go first", "sure", "everyone else go sit down in the colosseum", everyone started walking off to the colosseum and Arthur waved for me to follow him "Shirou", "yeah?", "do you think you'll get to the same level as him", I'm guessing he was talking about Atlas, "well if you're talking about who I think you're talking about then possibly", "and who do you think I'm talking about", "the phantom mage", "well do you really think you can get to his level", "yeah if I put my mind to it I could do it, I could possibly become stronger", "well we'll see, well we are here now", We arrived at a room filled with different kinds of weapons all in stasis they were just floating in columns, "Shirou pick up a weapon or two", "alright", I walked over to a sword but when I reached out to grab it I heard something calling to me, "what's wrong Shirou?", "oh nothing I just thought something was calling out for me", Arthur looked surprised "Shirou follow me" atlas walked over to the end of the room and opened a door that was disguised as part of the wall inside was a sword and a dagger they were both on pedestals, the sword had a straight black blade, a purple hilt, a bright silver guard, and at the end of the handle was a little purple crystal, the dagger had a purple serpentine shaped blade, the hilt was black with a red crystal at the end of it.

"is something still calling you?", "yeah it's gotten louder", "this is amazing they already noticed you", "what do you mean", "the weapons Shirou they noticed your existence and are to calling you", "ok what should I do?", "These weapons have chosen you Shirou use them", I reached out to the sword and grabbed it with my right hand, the sword started radiating a black mist from the blade, then I reached out for the dagger with my left and grabbed it but I flipped it round to a reverse grip since it felt more natural, the purple mist started emanating from the blade of the dagger, "this is amazing Shirou you bonded with the weapons, Shirou listen closely these weapons grow with you they're as strong as you are and eventually you can infuse them with magic to make them stronger but you'll learn that later for now go out and fight", "alright but how am I going to sheath these?", "oh I nearly forgot about that", Arthur moved to both pedestals and lifted the tops of them, "shirou reach in there and grab both sheaths", "alright", i placed the dagger and sword on the ground and, I reached inside and grabbed the sword sheath then the dagger's sheath, "shirou hold the sheaths and weapons with your hands out", "alright", I did what Arthur told me to, he hovered his hand over the sheaths and casted a spell and the sheaths attached themselves to my body the sword was on my back vertically with the hilt on my right side and the dagger on my hip vertically with the hilt pointed to the left, "what was that?", "I attached the sheaths and weapons to you", "am I able to take the sheaths off?", "yeah just with a simple spell, hold your hand to the sheaths and just say remove or equip depending on what you want to do", "alright", I decided to try it out I placed my hand to the sword sheath "remove", I moved my hand and the sword and sheath followed I tried it again but this time to equip it "equip", there it went on my back, "ok sick so after the exams what are we going to do with the weapons?", "well usually we'd take the weapons back and have students choose their weapons materials and everything else but with your case keep them", "alright", "let's get to the arena now", "right".

Arthur created a portal and we walked through to the arena, "Shirou are you ready", "yeah", "alright", Arthur teleported to the other side of the arena and summoned one of his familiars, it was huge, about 7 feet tall, and it looked like it was made of rocks, it was all black with glowing red eyes I was terrified it was like a wild beast was hunting me just the aura was chilling to the bone my throat started to constrict, "Shirou are you alright!?", "Yeah", I just took a deep breath and drew the sword and dagger I flipped the dagger round to the reverse grip and the mist started emanating from the weapons again, I started to feel different, I gripped both weapons tight "3, 2, 1, start", the exam started and the familiar was already in my face it tried to swing at me with its right hand I was able to dodge with a backstep, I felt faster somehow, a was to lost in thinking and I didn't realize it already went for an attack on my left, without thinking I stabbed my sword into its fist, it recoiled like it felt pain, 'wait a minute the sword went in with ease, I pulled out the sword it looked fine like it wasn't damaged, I rushed towards it and it tried to stomp on me with its right leg but I was able to slide under and cut the back of its left leg and it fell on its left knee, I calmed down after that thinking it couldn't get me, but I forgot it wasn't a person but a familiar, it turned round and launched a punch right to my face with its right hand, I side stepped and sliced through its hand, it vanished and it was just a stump now, it stood back up 'damn, it healed already I might have to end this quickly if I want to have a chance to get in', it started to heal its right hand, 'what the hell I can't amputate it', it started throwing punches incredibly fast I almost couldn't keep up because I was trying not to use any mana to help me so I just relied on my weapons and reaction speed, I kept barely dodging its punches, I couldn't get a hit in its defence was impenetrable, I slipped and I didn't have enough time to dodge so I had to use a quick spell 'mana enhancement ', the punch sent me back a bit but I was able to use my sword to stop me going out of the arena, I felt like I was running out of mana 'mana gain', 'that's better, I should end this now', I pulled my sword from out of the concrete and analysed the openings I couldn't find one, its guard was always up I couldn't think of a way to beat it, it was approaching fast without thinking I put my sword in its sheath and I used a spell I focused my mana to my hand and imagined it becoming ice "ice spike!", a spike of ice hurled forth to the familiar then I used another spell "fireball!", the familiars arms were gone giving me enough time to attack, I drew my sword and rushed towards it and I cut its legs enough for it to drop to its knees I jumped on the familiars back and stabbed it in the head using my sword, it vanished and my weapons felt a bit different like they got more powerful from destroying the familiar, "SHIROU RYDER HAS WON!" I sheathed both my weapons and the mist faded into nothing.

I walked out of the colosseum and Arthur appeared behind me, "Congrats on getting in Shirou", thank you sir", "I do have one question though", "Go for it", "That spell you used ice spikes where did you learn it?", "I'm not sure it just came to me naturally", "Shirou that's amazing not only have you learned a spell in the fastest time ever recorded in this school, but you also had one of the best fights I've seen in the last exam, you also learnt an intermediate level spell on your own during a high-stress environment, Shirou you're a natural", "Thank you sir", "Shirou could you cast that spell again?", "yeah sure where at", "aim it at me", "alright", "I aimed my hand at Arthur and focused mana to my hand and imagined it becoming ice "ice spike!", Arthur blocked it with a spell, "Shirou you've got a strong force behind it you've mastered it already this is amazing, Shirou I have no doubt you'll surpass the original phantom mage", "thank you, sir ", "you're welcome Shirou now you should get to the viewing area, shadows going next I doubt you'll want to miss that", I went to the viewing area and sat down in the front row.

I pulled out my phone while waiting for Shadow to come out I checked the time <19:30> 'hm wats this, oh a message from mum' I opened my phone to message my mum back ,, Shadow was coming out he had a bow "Shadow are you ready?", "yeah", "3, 2, 1, fight", Arthur summoned a different familiar it was more of a human height around 5'10, it was purple with blue eyes, pretty thin in its build, this one seemed to be really fast counter the bow so he's summoning familiars to test how we deal with the odds being stacked against us, smart', The familiar charged at Shadow, Shadow shot 2 arrows into each of its knees causing it to fall to the ground Shadow got another arrow and shot it in the head, the familiar didn't vanish though, it got back up and charged at Shadow again, 'that shot to the head should've destroyed it, unless there was a core that keeps it alive', "Damn that Shadow kid is screwed those shots didn't kill it so he's going out", I smirked a bit, "I wouldn't be so sure of that Jayden, it seems shadow clocked onto what's keeping it alive", "what do you mean", "I'll let you figure it out for yourself", "fine!", Shadow's eyes focused in more to the centre of the familiars chest ' so that's where the core is, nice spot Shadow', Shadow placed an arrow on his bow and as he drew the string to his bow back the familiar attacked shadow and the bow snapped, the familiar tried attacking Shadow again but shadow dodged just in time but the familiar started releasing a flurry of attacks Shadow was managing to block all of the punches, my guess is he was waiting for an opening after 10 seconds of constant attacks Shadow parried one of the attacks opening up the familiar's chest, Shadow plunged the arrow into its chest and the familiar vanished, "Shadow has passed the exam!", Shadow rushed up and found me, "Shirou we got in!", " hell yeah", "should we stick around and see who doesn't get in?", "Nah let's go find that guy, so long blond hair, tall, all white clothing, green eyes and a scar on his right eye correct?", "yep", "ok let's go", Arthur appeared in front of us to congratulate Shadow "congratulations on getting in Shadow", "thank you, sir", "at 8:40 come back here and we'll congratulate everyone who got in", me and Shadow spoke at the same time "thanks sir we'll see you then".

Me and Shadow looked around for about 10 minutes until we found the guy, 'tall, all white, long blond hair, that's him, "Shadow there he is", "let's get him", I put my arm out to stop the shadow from moving, "not yet we need to get him into a secluded area just follow my lead", "fine", i put my hood up and walked into the guy and took his bumped into him, "sorry, hey i don't mean to be a bother but could you help me with something", "sure i don't have much time though", "ok thank you", i ran behind the school luckily no one was there, "we're here", "ok what did you need help with", "oh i had money issues so i wanted some money", "i can't give you anything sorry", "oh i wasn't asking, SHADOW NOW!", Shadow rushed from the back and struck him in the back of the head and knocked him out, "nice work Shadow", "thanks now let's take some money", we found his wallet after searching his pockets for a couple seconds, "£1000!", i gave half to Shadow "ok what time is it now? we have to be back by 8:50" Shadow pulled out his phone "It's 8:35", "shit let's get back to the colosseum", "yeah", 'mana speed', "hey Shirou have you ever wondered why this school has a colosseum?", "yeah but honestly I'm not gonna question it, it's probably a very old school", "yeah probably", "ok we're here now".

Arthur had lined up everyone that had passed, it looked like Jayden failed the exam it was just me, Shadow, Jane and Sarah, "you 4 kids have proven yourself as mages, you have all learnt a spell extremely fast you have all proven yourself with your armed and unarmed combat, and I am happy to now call you our new students, come back tomorrow at 4 pm and we shall start your first day but for now go home and get some rest goodnight everyone", everyone left to go home it was about 8:43 pm 'welp I should get back home now I need some rest after today', 'mana traversal ', I walked to my door and opened it, I walked to the kitchen since I was looking for my mum, but she wasn't in the kitchen so I just pulled out my phone and texted her , I didn't really go to sleep I just played games on my computer till 12.