Fortunately for Sen and the others, the competition was to be hosted in the town of Bright Sail this year. Each year, the three competing academies took turns hosting the others. It just so happened that Sen’s academy was in charge this year.
He stood with the other competitors from his school in their dark academy uniforms. They’d also been given new cloaks, with their school symbol brighter and more prevalent on the back so an audience could see from far away. The image of a sailboat with rays shooting from the sails. Sen still hadn’t the faintest idea where the name had come from, but it was too late to petition the academy to change it to something cooler now. Maybe he’d say something after winning the academy war for them.
The mayor of Bright Sail had spared no expense in modifying the town’s arena. Most of the larger towns had them. Sometimes they featured plays, musicals, or any number of events. But the most popular of all were duels between magicians. People came from far and wide to witness clashes between skilled mages, and today, they’d come in equal numbers to watch a clash between academies.
Today was the opening ceremony, and the first of three events. He had no idea what these events might look like, and the upperclassman hadn’t talked much about them. He stood on his own with Milim and Joseia. Girch and Susanna stood in a pair as well. Snake stood on his own, glaring at the audience. He looked as if he wanted to kill something already. The thought occurred to Sen that he didn’t even know if that would be against the rules or not. He certainly wouldn’t take the life of a student, rival academy or not, but Snake? Snake would be the sole survivor of the Academy War if he could help it. He’d have to keep an eye on that.
The six of them stood in the arena, waiting for the other schools to file in and join them. Their entrance had been a long, drawn out affair. A good portion of which focused on Susanna and her apparently important family. As well as the fact Brightsail Academy had sent first years to the Academy War this year.
They didn’t have to wait long.
A voice cried out above the clamor of the arena; magic amplified it so that everyone could hear.
“Welcome, esteemed guests and supporters of the annual Academy War! The other competitors have arrived, and it is with great pleasure that I introduce the students of Fire Kite Academy and the Green Book Institute!” The announcer had greasy, slicked-back hair and wore a tight-fitting suit.
Sen looked up. From the opposite side of the arena, each school strode out of its respective exit.
Fire Kite Academy students wore bright red and white outfits with flames flickering at their edges. A lot of them also wore red jewelry with similar effects, or wrapped their hair with bright ribbons with plumes of smoke rising off them. His initial impression was that this was the school to watch out for of the two new arrivals.
The Green Book Institute apparently didn’t value uniformity as much as the other two academies. Their students looked as if they woke up this morning and threw together whatever was in their closest. Some wore blues and greens, others bright yellows, and one student had on so much red he looked as if he should’ve walked in with Fire Kite. It was possible they were veiling their true strength, but even Tutor wasn’t flagging anything special about them. It was as if their professors had pulled random people off the street and asked them to compete. If his only focus was winning, he’d try to steer Fire Kite to failure instead of Green Book, though…that sounded positively boring and he quickly abandoned the idea.
“What do you think the challenge will be?” Joseia whispered, though his natural speaking voice was already fairly quiet.
Milim perked up. “I don’t know, but I hope it’s a good opportunity to try out my new spell.”
Sen had invested several more dream magic essence spheres into helping Milim develop Dream Decay. Under his guidance, she’d even learned some modifiers for it. Some he’d suggested, and others she came up with on her own. He was interested in seeing how his investment paid off. In the past, he’d never found success in taking on students. But this was a new era, and the people of this time should be more capable of keeping up. Milim was a friend, but she also represented an opportunity to experiment. One in which she benefitted greatly.
Sen realized he’d zoned out and missed most of the Green Book introductions. He caught the tail end of it.
A very round man in poorly fitting clothes was currently being introduced. “Tonka Evers of Green Book!”
A short girl with bangs that covered each of her eyes and a long pointed hat was next. “Mary Candless!”
And finally, a blue-haired guy floated in with a pillow under his head as if he were sleeping. He wore blue pajamas, but even under the outfit it was clear he was muscular. “And Green Book’s highest-ranked fourth-year, Anonymous Student!”
Milim shook her head. “He didn’t even give them his name?” she asked.
The audience went wild. It seemed a lot of the women in the audience had taken a liking to the unnamed boy already.
The attention turned towards Fire Kite Academy.
At the front of Fire Kite was a tan-skinned girl with brown hair that stopped just before her shoulders. She had a single highlight of fire orange in the center of her hair and bright orange eyes. An earring dangled from her right ear. The look on her face was intense, and it was only bolstered by the flaming sword sheathed at her side.
“The top-ranked student on the continent and the daughter of—” The announcer paused at a quick glare from Alari. “It…it’s Alari Kingcrew!” he said, his momentum ruined. Several members of the audience gasped. Others cheered. Sen squinted. It seemed Alari’s father was important. But what had really drawn his attention was the fact that she was the top-ranked student. He’d keep an eye on her.
The announcer introduced the rest of her teammates.
Dasai River had black hair and looked like he’d rather be anywhere in the world but here. He had a sucker of some kind in his mouth and scanned the audience with contempt. He almost looked as if he’d rather be in bed.
Marin Peace was a short girl with a pixie cut and a bubbly personality. She waved fervently during her introduction and cheered on each of her teammates as they were introduced.
Lakin Smen had thick eye bags and long blue hair that hugged either side of her face. It rippled up and down as if a wave was moving to the base of her scalp and then back down to the end strands. That was interesting. She was the second-ranked member of Fire Kite.
Milim tugged at his cloak, and he missed out the final two members of the team. “Hm?” He turned toward her and followed her pointing. Some of the event attendants were bringing out miniature tower-like shapes covered by blankets. Three attendants in total carried one tower to each of the different academies and sat them down, still covered. The attendants stood next to the devices and waited.
After the introductions were finished, the announcer continued. “The first round of the tournament is simple. Each of the three schools will have a mana device!”
The attendants removed the coverings and revealed the mana devices. Bright Sail Academy had a blue sphere of mana, Fire Kite a red one, and Green Book a green sphere. Sen had a feeling he knew where this was going.
“The competition is simple. Each group of students must protect its sphere while stealing the others. The first school to steal another’s sphere will win the challenge and the most points for this round. Second place will go to the team that keeps its sphere but does not steal the sphere of another school. They will receive a lesser amount of points. Third place, the school who has their sphere stolen won’t receive any points. Points will be awarded for ingenuity and deducted for excessive brutality. Though we have resurrectionists on standby, killing another student in the first round will result in a harsh deduction of points.”
Sen glanced at Snake. He’d be a liability if he couldn’t control himself. Girch was a little worrying as well. That big guy could kill someone just by falling on them. The rules were fairly simple; it was each team’s individual strategy that would determine the outcome of the match.
“Contestants will have five minutes to prepare, starting now!” the announcer shouted. The audience went wild, and Sen’s group quickly formed a circle to discuss their plan. Or they intended to discuss their plan. Snake already had something in mind. “You three.” He pointed at Sen, Milim, and Joseia. “You’ll rush Fire Kite. Get their sphere. Girch, you’re coming with me to Green Book. Susanna’s on guard duty. Problems?” Snake asked.
Girch raised a brow at Susanna, but she nodded. “My powers are uniquely suited for defense. That works fine with me,” she said.
Joseia frowned. “Are we sure we want to make a play for both schools at once? We only need one sphere to win. If we concentrated on one school, then we’d have a better shot.”
Sen suspected Snake was trying to tie up the stronger of the two schools by sending them in as bait. He’d try to grab the sphere with Girch at his side and secure a quick victory. It wasn’t the worst idea.
Snake stared at the boy with green eyes. “I don’t want one sphere. I want both. The rules didn’t say we couldn’t take both. More points for us.”
“You really think the three of us can handle Fire Kite on our own? Isn’t it risky splitting up our forces this much?” Milim asked.
Snake turned toward her. “Joseia’s fast. You said you had that new crowd control spell, and he has those vines. Should be okay.”
It was a remarkable assessment, and Sen had to admit he was impressed. He wasn’t just throwing them to the woods. He’d seen Sen in action, or rather, the aftermath of Sen in action. Milim had gone over her capabilities in detail earlier. And to be fair, Joseia was fast. Snake and Girch were fairly powerful themselves. As much had he hated to give Snake credit, the idea of taking both spheres was exciting. He was surprised that he hadn’t thought of it himself. Still, he’d need to be careful. He hadn’t had the opportunity to fight with many mages from this era, and the cultists from the other day hadn’t been particularly impressive. These were students who had trained for years in some of the best academies around. This was an opportunity to learn and test himself against powerful magicians. He couldn’t underestimate them.
“Well, seems as if everyone’s in agreement then,” Sen said.
Just in time, the announcer signaled that the event was about to begin. “Team captains, are we ready?”
Snake, Anonymous Student, and Alari each nodded.
[New Quest: Achieve total victory in round one of the Academy War. ]
Sen stared at the update. “What?” he said aloud by accident. Milim and Joseia turned to look at him.
“Begin!” the announcer shouted.
There was no time. Sen swiped the quest away before he could read further. He, Milim, and Joseia took off to the left, heading towards Fire Kite Academy’s students. Snake and Girch burst to the right toward Green Book. Susanna muttered a spell, and golden strings of light started to form around their sphere to protect it. Sen turned back for just a moment, wondering what kind of spell it was when something passed him in a flash. He skidded to a stop, realizing who it was.
[There’s just no way…]
Tonka Evers stood there in the center of Susanna’s defensive spell before it could fully activate. He grabbed the blue sphere of Bright Sail Academy and disappeared again. He landed halfway between the Bright Sail Students and halfway between Green Book. Whatever spell Green Book had used had run its course, but it had done enough. If they didn’t act now, the competition would be over before it began.