The magic circles spun and shimmered, expelling a few more students before finally coming to a complete standstill.
Something was wrong. "Is that everyone?" Matilda's pitched voice asked the deputy.
Draul approached the dais and stared at the notepad set on it but before he could speak, an old wizened voice interrupted him.
"There is one more," the Headmaster's voice echoed.
Draul spared the old man a glance before turning back to the pillar of magic circles. They didn't budge or hum anymore… almost like they were stuck.
Raising his hand, he attempted to investigate. At the slightest touch of magic, the great Magic Circles cracked and shattered like glass.
Losing their floating momentum, the magical runes tumbled down in a shower of magical dust. Draul's wand was flying through the air as he sent runes of all kinds all over the place, securing the magic that ran loose from the Grand spell of the Sorting.
The students at the front moved to the back, trying to avoid loose wild magic. Sparks threatened to start a fire in the Mess Hall but were doused with a quick flick of Draul's wand.
"What's the meaning of this?" Heldsworth asked in a grave tone.
"Just a matter of power imbalance. You know this, Gringer," the Headmaster's voice announced calmly as he took a sip of tea.
"A mana vortex?" Gringer asked with a curious expression. There was some edge in his voice that commanded some level of urgency.
The old man nodded with a knowing expression, "Quite the troublesome one this time around. Cast the spell again… and supply it with enough mana this time."
The scarred red-haired professor folded his arms across his chest and whistled, "Never thought I'd see the day when the Rune Sorcerer himself would suffer from a measly 'power imbalance.' I guess the rumours that your mana is infinite aren't true after all."
"Oh, shut up!" Draul grunted before flicking his wand at the empty chair on the stage.
In a few moments, the Deputy Headmaster had recreated the Grand Spell once more. One great circle of runes on the ground and three spinning circles stacked on top of each other in the air, surrounding the lone chair.
The runes began to shimmer once more, drawing power from the Deputy Headmaster. Amber streams of pure mana flowed from the man's wand and into the magic circles.
A few of the teachers, Heldsworth included stood up when they noticed a bead of sweat forming on Draul's face. Together, they began feeding the magic circles with mana.
Slowly, the circles began to spin but they never picked up speed and a heavy groaning could be heard like the straining of the cogs of a heavy machine.
"The castle is feeding the Spell too, huh," the headmaster mumbled thoughtfully.
Right when the shimmer that brought the student into the chair started to appear, the runes began to swivel out of place and get out of alignment, getting unstable.
Draul's second hand flew to the hem of his robe and pulled back the sleeve to reveal a golden rune-encrusted cuff that wrapped around most of his forearm.
"Gringer," a voice interrupted him, a gentle palm falling on his shoulders. The Headmaster and his deputy shared a short look before Draul took a step back, covering the silver bracelet and keeping his wand focused on keeping the Grand Spell's form.
The Headmaster thrust his hand forward, sending a wave of white essence into the runes. The Sorting Spell greedily swallowed the magic and continued to do so as the Circles spun faster and the process proceeded.
The runes shimmered and began to weave a body with the white glow of the runes. The process this time was slow and gentle, unlike the previous times when the students seemed to have been thrust out of the simulation screaming for their lives.
The student that appeared was dressed in ruined clothes drenched in blood and appeared exhausted beyond measure. There were signs of dried tears on his face.
His hair was white as snow and his sapphire eyes stared deep into nothing. As soon as his body appeared, the magic of the Headmaster began to flow into him slowly returning colour to his face.
The ethereal voice of the Sorting brought the boy out of his daze:
"Name: Arthur Ember
Course: Hunter
Category: Warrior
Role: Leader
Squad: Squad Six"
The Headmaster returned to his seat, staying out of Arthur's line of sight and staring at him with curiosity.
'Where am I now? Squad Six? Wait, is that the Squad I'm in now?' Arthur wondered.
He noticed a rowdy bunch of students at the left of the Great Hall screaming, clapping and waving at him, dressed in green robes. The same colour that his grey robes began to take on.
Arthur looked around him, trying to understand what was going on but in the end, all he could do was walk to the squad he'd been assigned. His mind was a mess…
One moment, he'd been standing on the grounds of a lonely battlefield, his friends slain by the fearsome fiend of a Behemoth he'd just taken down and the next moment, he was here.
It was a brief moment before he'd stepped off stage that he locked eyes with an orange-haired student in purple robes. Only for a brief moment…
Darius approached him, "Look at you, Leader."
"Oh yeah… I didn't see that coming."
"Yeah, right! You should be hungry. Get over here," Darius pulled him to a seat that had been reserved for him.
Leo sat on the other side, chowing down on anything and everything he could get his hands on, "For someone so small, you sure know how to stuff your face."
"Shut up, Arthur. Just think about it. How many days has it been since the Sorting began?" Leo asked.
"A day perhaps…"
"No, it's been thirty minutes. That's how the spell works. It's also very tasking on the body, so eat something before you collapse," Darius corrected him.
"You're no fun, Darius. You could at least let me toy with him a little. Have you noticed how lost he looks? And after such an entrance. You could have at least tried to look cool like Cade and Sullivan," Leo pointed a half-bitten chicken drumstick at Arthur, arguing with his mouth full.
"Don't eat with your mouth full, Leo. You look like like a goblin," Momo handed the boy a napkin and watched as he frantically tried to clean his mouth.
After this comment, Leo's manners changed drastically. One could even say he lost half his appetite.
.........…..
"Really? Him? That's who you're worried about?" Carol nearly screamed when she saw the smirk on Cade's face.
"What? Is he not worthy of my attention?"
"I was there, Cade. Sullivan's way more impressive as a Leader. I know Arthur is a good fighter but that's nothing against the right leader. Besides, I don't think he can beat you in a duel. In that regard, don't you think Sullivan poses more of a threat," Carol argued.
Cade let out a chuckle, "You might be right when it comes to the basic fundamentals of a Leader. But Arthur is full of surprises. He has the instincts of a natural-born Leader and a mind that can think.
There is nothing more frightening than an enemy with a large arsenal of surprises. You can never anticipate his next move, no matter how much you try to rationalise. That's what makes him frightening."
Cade could go on and on about the reasons he had to be wary of Arthur but that would only make him look like he was obsessed with the guy… which wasn't so far off.
So far, everything he'd witnessed gave him enough reason to believe Arthur was capable of surpassing everyone in their classroom. The white-haired boy had his faults… like his boundless naivety but that could be remedied.
'So he's also a mana vortex. Full of surprises, indeed,' Cade thought to himself. Now that this had been established, something told him going against Arthur was going to get even more interesting.