The magic contest preliminaries were quite simple. Competitors would display their magical abilities using Sphera, their Rune or both. Each one would be ranked by a judge and then the top two would be admitted into the European Youth Martial Tournament.
Beatrice equipped an Arbiter in the style of a bracer. All contestants had to use the same Arbiter, but they could choose any two Sphera to go with it. Beatrice grabbed a wind Sphera and a fire Sphera and slotted them into the Arbiter. Beatrice was very skilled with magic, but her competition was the other students of Oleander, so it would be difficult to earn a spot in the Tournament. However, Beatrice's family had taught her a few secret techniques that would hopefully give the edge she needed.
"Beatrice Rose!"
After hearing her name, Beatrice headed to the examination area which was just a dirt clearing.
The judge was one of the magic instructors. An older English man named Quentin Miller. He was fairly unpopular among the student body for his strictness and outdated perspectives, but he was also reliable when it came to magical education. He examined Beatrice's file. "Now, your Rune is barrier magic, yes?"
"That's right."
"And what Sphera have you chosen?"
"Fire and wind."
"I see. Well, begin when you're ready." He immediately readied his notes, preparing to grade her performance,
Turning her attention away, Beatrice began preparing herself mentally. The technique she was planning on showing off could be fatal if misperformed. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. After steadying her breathing, she opened her eyes and held up her hand, activating the fire Spherea via her Arbiter. A massive pillar of fire erupted from her forearm, she then activated the wind Sphera, blowing air directly into the fire causing it to burst into a giant fireball, engulfing herself inside of it.
Miller dropped his pen and lurched forward, shocked and panicked by the sight before him.
However, after only a second, the fire dissipated, revealing Beatrice perfectly unharmed, her body covered in a translucent aura.
Miller, realizing what had happened, smiled. He picked up his pen and graded her, awarding a very high score. Fanning the flames of fire magic with wind magic was already an impressive technique, but creating a fireball and protecting oneself from it with a protective barrier was the X factor one needed to be accepted into the Tournament. "Very impressive, Beatrice."
"Thank you, Mr. Miller," Beatrice said as she left the exam area.
As Beatrice left, Miller went back to his notes. There was one person left.
"Thomas Maes!" Miller called out.
Thomas entered the exam area as Miller looked over his file.
"So your Rune is… Transfer magic, yes?"
"That's right. Effectively, it allows me to absorb and release magic."
"Ah, I see. "
"I'll be demonstrating this ability with the help of a fire Sphera and an ice Sphera."
"Very good. Start whenever you're ready."
Thomas prepared himself. He hated using his ability, but he had to do it. He kneeled down and put his hands together. He then used his arbiter to activate his ice Sphera, causing a small flurry before he ripped his other hand away. His other hand was covered in magical ice. To him, it felt like his hand was dead, but without missing a beat, he pushed it against the ground and released the magic, covering the exam area in a sheet of ice.
Mr. Miller examined his actions intently. It seemed simple on the surface, but the practical applications of such a move were nearly limitless.
Now was the part that Thomas had been dreading. He activated the Sphera, engulfing his hand in fire. You'd expect it to hurt, but when using an Arbiter, it normally made the user immune to the effects of the magic, so Thomas felt nothing despite his hand ostensibly burning up. However, this immunity only partially affected transfer magic. Thomas pressed his hands together and activated his Rune, transferring the fire magic to his other hand. While Thomas's hand would remain perfectly fine, it felt like it was burning. He could feel every nerve crying out in agony as they were engulfed in flames. Pushing through the excruciating pain, Thomas cried out and slammed his hand against the ground, releasing the magic and melting the sheet of ice.
Thomas took time to recover. The pain had faded, but it had still been so intense. Breathing heavily, he got up and looked at the judge.
Mr. Miller was very impressed. Sure, it wasn't that fancy of a display, but Thomas showed proficiency in his incredibly useful ability. Mr. Miller had no qualms about giving him a score even higher than Beatrice's.
***
As the magic competition preliminaries were wrapping up, the tank competition preliminaries were just beginning. Jack and Yuki were in the Tadasu Mk. II and ready to begin, and their competitors, the Jumeau twins were ready in their Jumeau B2, both were waiting for the horn to sound, signaling the start of the match. The two teams were on opposite ends of the arena which was a dirt clearing with several targets scattered around which were all made of wood. The match had a time limit of five minutes. After that, whoever had the most points would be the winner and admitted into the European Youth Martial Tournament.
As Jack and Yuki were waiting for the match to begin, however, the tension was interrupted by their radio going off.
"Hello? Hello?" It was unmistakably Rouge Jumeau.
Yuki was annoyed, but she responded, "Hello?"
"Ah, I thought you'd be on this frequency, Ms. Yuki Tadasu. My brother and I just decided to remind you of the absolute beating you are about to receive. Isn't that right, brother?"
"Yes!" Bleu could be heard, although his voice was distant and muffled. "Tell that Japanese hussy and her American stooge to thank us for the undue honor they are about to receive."
Rouge laughed. "I assume you heard all of that?"
"Yes…" Yuki responded.
Jack, irritated, said, "Yuki, just turn that damn thing off."
Yuki, realizing that she could just do that, replied, "All right!"
"W-wait…! You dare cut us off!? The heir and heiress of the Jumeau Group will not toler–" were the last words Jack and Yuki heard from the twins as Yuki shut off the radio.
"Thank God…" Jack said. "I can't stand those two…"
Unfortunately, though, Jack and Yuki's peace was interrupted by the sounding of the horn. The match had begun. Immediately, Yuki sped off. The arena was square shaped with a road going around the perimeter. The middle was occupied by two mounds with a road going in between them. The targets were scattered on the mounds as well as outside the perimeter. In total, there were twenty targets. Effectively, each team had a set path to go down, but they could also snipe the other opponents' targets if they were fast or skilled enough.
Both teams were going down the middle road, but in opposite directions. At almost the same time, each tank had shot down a target on their own respective side and then, like clockwork, each had hit the next target.
Jack was feeling confident and determined, but as he prepared the next shot, the Jumeau passed the Tadasu and expertly bumped into them, causing the Tadasu to skew its direction and run right into the mound while barely affecting the Jumeau's trajectory.
"God damn it! Those bastards!" Jack was furious, but he should've expected dirty tricks from such a pair.
"Don't worry! Just focus on aiming!"
Despite the awkward position, Jack lined up and hit the next target as Yuki reversed and pulled out, freeing them from the mound.
Thanks to Yuki's driving they recovered fast, but looking behind, Jack saw that the twins had managed to gain a decent lead, already turning right onto the arena's perimeter.
Jack was still mad, but that anger fueled his vengeful mind and he hatched a devious plan. "Hey, Yuki. Turn left."
Yuki was momentarily surprised, but she quickly realized what Jack was planning. "Got it!"
The Tadasu turned left onto the end of what was Bleu and Rouge's route. Jack hit two more targets meant for the twins. As they approached the next turn, Yuki turned left and the Tadasu and the Jumeau were now facing each other with the Jumeau about halfway down the road having already hit two of the three perimeter targets.
"Yuki, turn ninety degrees and block the road!"
"Got it!"
As Yuki turned, Jack and Bleu both aimed and fired at the last target, but Jack was just a millisecond faster, thus resulting in him hitting the target first.
Yuki finished turning. When turned sideways, the road was blocked, leaving Rouge and Bleu unable to pass. The Jumeau went right up to the Tadasu and started honking its horn. While bumps were fair game, direct collisions were illegal, so that's all they could do.
About ten seconds had passed and Yuki looked over at Jack. "Uh, Jack, shouldn't we get going?"
Jack took a couple seconds to answer. "Not yet, wait for my call."
Yuki resigned herself and decided to put her trust in him.
The Jumeau's horn was going haywire, but after ten more seconds, it started to reverse.
Jack smirked as he saw this. Once the Jumeau was a fair distance away, Jack gave the order, "Yuki, turn right and let's get out of here!"
"All right!" Yuki followed his orders. The Tadasu turned right and then started heading to the other side of the arena along the perimeter. Jack hit the two targets on this side before the tank turned right onto what was supposed to be their route. Rouge and Bleu were certainly on their way, but because they had to retread so much ground, they weren't here yet.
It may seem like Jack and Yuki had an advantage, but they were still likely a point down and had to hit all three targets along the perimeter to win.
Jack was confident in his aiming, though. He lined up his shots and perfectly nailed the first two targets in quick succession. However, just as he saw the Jumeau turn onto the road, he heard that all too familiar clunk. The loading mechanism had jammed.
"God damn it!" The Jumeau had already lined up its shot. Out of desperation, Jack went with old reliable, kicking the loading mechanism, and while that unjammed it and loaded in the next round, it had been too slow.
Jack watched in horror as the Jumeau fired. Sending the round flying and leaving the target completely undisturbed. It was a miss.
Jack could hardly believe his eyes, but he wasn't about to waste the opportunity. He quickly aimed his shot and fired. The round tore through the air and split the target in half, scattering wood chunks and splinters everywhere.
The horn sounded, signaling the end of the match. Jack and Yuki had won. With a score of 11-9, Jack and Yuki would be representing Oleander in the European Youth Martial Tournament's Tank Competition.
***
After the match, Jack and Yuki as well as the twins went to meet with the judges. Bleu and Rouge had been staring daggers at them, but that hardly mattered. The judges just summarized the game, solidifying Jack and Yuki's victory. Afterwards, Jack and Yuki started heading back to the Tadasu, but before they made it to their destination, they were interrupted by Rouge and Bleu.
"You two peasants!" Bleu had yelled at them.
"How dare you two serfs humiliate us in such a manner!?" Rouge stamped her feet.
"Humiliate you? You two humiliated yourselves," Jack told them.
"Absolute nonsense!" Bleu pointed his finger at Jack. "Only a knave would behave in such a manner! Blocking the road like that! Have you no shame at all!?"
"Was it against the rules?"
"There are no rules in war, but a gentleman acts with honor!"
"Was it honorable when you bumped into us?"
"That was completely different! Isn't that right, Rouge?" Bleu looked at his sister.
"Yes, for a noble, such an action is only natural law." Despite talking calmly, Rouge was as furious as Bleu, and you could hear her hatred in every syllable.
Jack scoffed. "You two are unbelievable. Don't you see? You failed yourselves."
"What!?" They both said in unison.
"When we blocked you, we were down one point. The time limit was only five minutes. All you had to do was wait out the clock and you would've won."
"Th-that…!" Bleu only just realized this.
"Not to mention, you had a clear shot on the last target, but you missed. Emotions were running high, I imagine. Go figure you'd miss the most important shot of the game."
"Shut up!" screamed Rouge. "Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP! How dare you insult my brother! You don't understand anything at all! You're just some Yank yokel from God knows where!" Rouge dramatically turned her attention to Yuki. "And you! You're just some hussy from a country so backwards that they've barely figured out the railway! Neither of you have any right to debase us or the Jumeau name!"
Yuki was a bit shaken by the abuse, but Jack just sighed. "You know, I've read up on the Jumeau Group. Your grandfather started his career by fixing oil lamps. Then he started making looms. Very good looms, mind you, but the company wasn't worth a dime until your father got into the military industry." He paused. "I'll give you this, though, the Jumeau B2 is a fantastic tank. It was impressive to see, and it was a difficult match. " He paused. "But any machine is only as good as its operator." Jack turned away. "Let's go, Yuki."
And the two walked away, leaving the Jumeau twins behind.
***
It had been a couple weeks since the preliminaries. It took a while for everything to be finalized, but now the participants from each competing school had been decided for the Tournament. Jack had picked up a copy of the school newspaper specifically to see who he and Yuki would be facing, but he hadn't yet looked for himself, he was waiting to look at it with Yuki.
Once classes were over, Jack was actually excited to go to the student council room for once. Thankfully, Yuki was already there when he arrived. "Yuki, I've got the school newspaper."
"Oh, all right." Yuki had actually bought a copy too, but she decided to keep it hidden in her bag.
Sitting down next to her, Jack opened up the paper to the section on the Tournament. "Let's see…" He scanned the rows of entries and eventually found the section on the tank competition. The tank competition was a double-elimination tournament, and their first opponent would be… Prince Adrian.
Both of their hearts sank as they read that name. Their first, and almost certainly last opponent, would be the Crown Prince of the German Empire.