As Leon travels further North over the next few days, the lands surrounding him seem more vibrant, with many more people bustling around nearby. Eventually in the distance he sees the walls of Knoss.
As he gets closer a sigh of wonder escapes his mouth, the large pale walls stand tall, with Leon having to tilt his neck back to see the tops. Walking over to the heavy gate he shows the guards his ID before walking in.
Entering the capital Leon, is overwhelmed with the activity. To his surprise, he exclaims 'there are more people in this area than all of Leford's population'. Strolling through the wave of people he spies some great pillars to the north.
'That must be the palace which would mean that, looking at the only structure that could even remotely challenges the northern spires in height, the academy is over there'. Seeing this he heads East to where the academy lies.
Eventually Leon arrives at the academy, taking in the sights, he sees a open heavy wooden door surrounded by some four metre brick walls running along. The wall appears to connect with city wall in the far distance.
In front of the doors are two barricaded lines. The line to the left had a sign reading 'applicants'. While the left line was filled with many people the line on the right was empty.
Taking a second to think about which line he should enter and figure slowly approaches from behind Leon, wrapping his hand around him.
"Yo, getting cold feet are ya?" a masculine voice with some enthusiasm comments behind him.
"No, I am trying to figure out which line I should be in" looking at the man who couldn't be much older than him, Leon sees the gemstone roughly the size and shape of half his little finger running across his forehead.
'His magic capacity must be not much better than mine' a sense of relief at the possible new found comrade washes over him.
"Hoh, do you have one of these bad bois then, is it as good as mine?" he proceeds to pull out a letter of recommendation stamped with a wolf head.
Feeling it only right to show him as well, Leon pulls out his own letter, stamped with the serpent.
"Wow, the serpent family, just as good as my one. I'm Victor by the way, nice to meet you". As he responds he flashes a big smile.
"Mine is Leon, pleasure to meet you".
Before Leon could continue another voice speaks up behind.
"Are you two saying you have recommendations as well?" looking behind, another guy dressed in long sleeved formal attire which must be unpleasant in this heat asks them. His overall visage leads one to think he is rather studious.
"Sure do, so who is yours from?"
"Its not a competition" as he pokes his glasses with his right-hand revealing a cross-shape blue stone.
"Sounds like someone lost" Victor cheerfully announces.
"So which line are we meant to go into?" brushing aside Victors boast the man asks.
"Let's try this one" striding forward without a care, Victor meets with the man at the end of the right lane.
"Wait you don't know?" flustered by the somewhat rash action other calls out.
"Are you potential students with a recommendation?" the man at the counter inquires.
"Yes, this is mine".
"Alright I will record your names and you can hand them in here to be inspected".
Victor Wild, Leon and Albert Snow. The three of them each record their name.
"The knight over there will escort the three of you to be tested so we know which class to put you in".
As the trio follow the knight over to a stadium like building Victor turns round and asks, "So why did the two of you join up?"
"I intend to reach Champion rank here, so upon graduation I can become a territory lord".
"Such a boring answer, and you Leon".
"To gain strength" after some thought, Leon gives his answer.
"Such a broad answer" Albert chirps in. "So why did you join Victor?"
"So that I can land a wealthy knight and when she goes off to battle, I can laze around and spend her fortune".
"Lazy pervert". At Albert's retort Victor laughs.
As the knight leads them into the stadium, they are greeted by quite the scene. As a fight starts to breakout in centre, the staff and students hurry over to the edges.
"Don't ignore me and come down here and fight you bitch" the red-haired woman on the ground angrily shouts. The short-sleeved shirt she is wearing allows onlookers to see the vibrant red glow of metallic like veins along her forearms.
On the other side atop a pillar of ice the woman utters "why should I be on the same level as some outcast beast of the Reinhardt family". The long blue dress and Icy crown she wears makes her look quite regal.
"Galatea!" hearing the insult the woman jumps up to strike Galatea with a fist. Her long hair whipping through the air.
"Who are these two?" Victor poses the question as the onslaught of blows begin, ice flying around the stadium.
"That would be Hela Reinhardt on the right. Her aunt is the current duke of the Reinhardt's, so she is of the main family. She is highly proficient with flames as one would expect given her family. I heard she was sent away from the family, might be why she is here".
As Albert speaks the stadium undergoes a cycle of freezing and melting. The extensive magic assault of the two seems to continuously increase with each second.
"The other is Galatea Bright. The chosen heir of the Bright family and will likely be the strongest of our generation. Born genius".
"Wow, two noble hotties fighting it out, who you reckon will win?"
"A genius?" Leon repeats at the rather extensive praise.
"She is the first tri-gem in possibly over a century and all of them are quite powerful". Now turning to Victor "as for the winner, I am sure you can already see the disparity".
As the words leave his mouth everyone can see the truth. As Hela is pounded by repeated missiles, she is unable to cleanly close the distance. Seeing the tables turning on herself, she ignites her fists creating a great blaze before blasting forward. Crushing the pillar of ice forming in front of her. Burning through most of her energy she brings forth a great flaming fist.
Before the fist has a chance to reach Galatea though, she forms a sword of ice in her hand, swinging down the great weight. Repositioning to block it, Hela feels the weight of the attack, far greater than what she expected. The impact sends her plummeting, leaving a large crater where she lands.
Galatea then begins forming a huge Ice pillar in the air directly above Hela.
"Is she planning on offing her?"
"Kill? We must stop her" Hearing the grim fate Leon quickly replies, preparing to jump in.
Albert grabs hold of Leon's shoulder and gives him a look to question if he is sane.
At that moment the huge pillar is launched at a great speed, faster than one would imagine such bulk to move at. As it barrels towards Hela an audible gasp can be heard as the watchers' stare at the soon to be tragedy.
Just metres before the collision occurs, the pillar cleanly splits in two, its momentum stalled.
"That is enough miss Bright" the stern voice fills the room. As the ice breaks down, the man can be seen beneath it. The thick silver beard contrast cleanly with his longer black hair giving him a rather mature look. His facing showing no signs of wavering gives him quite the aura.
"Croyden Wolf, what are you doing getting in the way of disputes between the other six noble families?" Galatea responds in a accusatory tone.
"Here at the academy all problems are resolved within, even the influence of your family is negligible. Further, how could a teacher sit back from that".
"You think you can stop me?"
"Yes".
"Hoh, why so serious I was just joking around. That Reinhardt didn't see to be able to take a joke" smiling to herself she then leaves the building.
After she leaves Croyden also leaves as a couple of nurses rush over to help the unconscious Hela.
Following the confrontation, the academy workers spent the next couple of hours fixing the mess. Eventually Albert, Leon and Victor were called over to do their tests.